We'll help you fully understand our city and its neighborhoods, and we'll discuss various investor opportunities in the suburban real estate market as well. Listen in as we talk with other investors in Chicago and Property Managers throughout the area who are successfully working in and around this great city. Join us as we share our winning strategies, success stories, obstacles we've encountered, and most importantly, the lessons we have learned along the way. If you are ready to learn the ins and outs of the investor market here in Chicago, you are in the right place.
Mark Ainley is an investor, Real Estate Managing Broker, and local Property Manager with nearly two decades of experience in all facets of real estate. Mark is the co-founder of GC Realty & Development, LLC, a full-service real estate brokerage, property management, and real estate investment firm in the Chicago real estate market. Through his brokerage, he consults with both local and out-of-state investors on the acquisition, stabilization, and management of their rental property portfolios. GCR&D recently made the “INC 5000 List” of the fastest growing companies in the United States.
He was featured on CNBC’s TV show The Deed, featuring one of his rehab projects. He has also been featured on podcasts like Bigger Pockets(episode 72), The Real Estate Mogul Podcast , Joe Fairless, REI Diamonds, and Real Estate Money School. In 2017 he was featured on the cover of Top Agent-Property Management Edition.
He has spoken at numerous events throughout the United States including investing summits in Dallas, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Chicago. Mark takes pride in sharing his personal experiences, both good and bad, with new investors, out-of-state investors, or even less experienced entrepreneurs on what steps to avoid when growing a business.
Through his years of experience, and having completed over 480 successful rehabilitation projects, Mark is able to share his breadth of knowledge on such topics as Property Management, business scaling, the rehabilitation and flipping of properties, asset management and stabilization, market analysis, and investing.
Tom Shallcross is a born and raised Chicagoan that specializes on the Northside of Chicago. Tom is the owner of Now Serving Properties, and he is a 2-4 unit specialist broker for Second City Real Estate. Tom has scaled a successful Chicago rental portfolio, while maintaining a full-time flipping business, and helping other investors find their next investment. Tom is an active father of 4 children.
Tom and his business partner leverage several marketing strategies to acquire deals and then utilize our market knowledge to determine if the property is best suited for a long-term hold, or a profitable flip. In the last 2 years, Tom has networked to grow a substantial supporting team so he can focus on being on top of the business, not in the business, and utilize his experience in lending, remodeling, and sales to drive the company forward.
In 2019, Tom began to focus on private investors and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to acquire and rehab properties in specific pockets of Chicago, transacting several million dollars worth of Real Estate.
Tom has been featured on numerous podcasts including as REI Diamond, REady2Scale with Ellie Pearlman, and the Holton-Wise show, and has had multiple articles published in Remodeling Magazine while also contributing several blogs to BiggerPockets.
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