CHICAGO'S #1 REAL ESTATE INVESTING PODCAST

Not sure if your rent is right? 👉 Get a free analysisIf you’re a Chicago landlord, investor, or Chicago property manager, you’ve probably heard the same recycled takes a thousand times, rates are going to do this, the market is going to do that, wait for “blood in the streets,” then buy. In this Tuesday Tip, Mark Ainley cuts through the noise with a street by street, suburb by suburb view of what actually mat...

If you’ve ever thought, “What’s the worst that could happen with a rental property?”, this episode answers that question in painful detail. Fires, squatters, drug activity, city violations, and an investor watching nearly $100,000 evaporate. This isn’t a horror story for clicks. It’s a real Chicago investment that went sideways fast, and a reminder of how quickly things can unravel when risk isn&rsquo...

Every time the word “foreclosure” starts trending, Chicago investors get the same question in their inbox, is this the wave? Are banks about to dump inventory? Is there a secret pipeline of discounted deals that only insiders know about? In this episode, top REO agent Ryan Smith brings some reality to the conversation. The Chicago foreclosure market is active, but it’s nothing like 2008, and understanding how it actua...

Some people “start in real estate” by buying a condo, reading BiggerPockets for three years, and telling everyone they’re “waiting for the market to shift.”He came out of the University of Wisconsin–Madison real estate program, took the traditional institutional route, quickly realized corporate real estate wasn’t the dream, and then jumped straight into owning Chicago multifamily… starti...

Permits are one of the most avoided topics in Chicago real estate investing. Many investors spend their entire careers trying to work around the system instead of through it. In this episode, Tom Shallcross breaks down why embracing the permitting process, rather than avoiding it, actually makes you a better investor and protects your downside long term.This conversation walks through the permitting process from start to finish, from de...

Determining rental pricing is already challenging in the Chicago market, but it becomes even more confusing when Section 8 inquiries start coming in, especially during slower leasing months. Many housing providers ask the same question, will a Section 8 tenant actually be approved at my asking rent, or am I wasting time going through the process? In this Straight Up Chicago Investor Tuesday Tip episode, Mark Ainley breaks down how Sect...

Evictions are one of those parts of Chicago real estate that no one plans for, but almost everyone eventually faces. You can screen well, communicate clearly, and still find yourself dealing with a resident who stops paying and stops responding. When that happens, the Cook County eviction process becomes less about fairness and more about understanding timelines, procedures, and how to minimize losses. In this episode of the Straight U...

If you’ve ever looked at Chicago real estate and thought, “Man… I just want to buy one small building and not screw it up,” this episode is for you. Because Niko Apostal isn’t out here selling a fantasy. He’s telling the real story, the one most people skip over. The long version. The messy version. The version where you start in residential, ride a hot market, get punched in the face by the crash, ...

Tenant screening in Chicago is getting harder, not easier. As the 2025 winter eviction moratorium approaches and rental scams evolve faster than ever, landlords are being hit with a wave of fake documents, unverifiable stories, and applicants who know exactly how to manipulate weaknesses in the system. In this episode, Mark Ainley breaks down the three biggest red flags he’s seeing right now, and what Chicago housing providers mu...

If you spend any time working in Chicago real estate, you eventually realize you’re playing a long game built around timing, neighborhoods, and understanding how the city evolves block by block. That’s why conversations like this one with Lawrence Dunning are so valuable. He’s an investor, developer-focused broker, and someone who has watched entire pockets of the city transform because of strategic new construction p...