How It All Started

I bought my first property at the age of twenty three.  I had no idea what I was doing and honestly, I just wanted to see if I could.  That makes no sense now but at the time, I thought it was a better alternative to renting.  For the most part, it was.  What I hadn't taken into consideration was the fact that I wouldn't want to stay in the suburb (Gurnee) very long.  After two years, I longed to live in the City of Chicago and put my townhome on the market.  I rented for almost two years before deciding to buy another home.  Home ownership suits me.

I've spent 11 years on 2 differnt condo boards and for most of those years, the board was my 2nd full time job.  As the secretary of one and the president of another, I took that job seriously.  With less than stallar management companies and my need to take charge in their absence, I ended up doing most of the work of our management company, simply because they wouldn't.  The better I became at doing their job, the less then did, yet, they were still paid themselves every month.

I found that our various management companies weren't as responsive as we needed them to be, they rarely followed-up and if I didn't, things would be forgotten/go unnoticed.  The estimated I sourced were more competitive than theirs and small projects that could have been completed by a handyman were given to vendors and contractors, who charged an absorbent fee.  I enjoyed being on the board, making decisions on behalf of my neighbors and was very handy.  As a board members, I did many small projects around my buildings, things that would have cost the associations hundreds off dollars.  My last year as board president, my fellow board members encouraged me to take over the management responsibilities, something I'd been considering mysef.  I took classes, attended workshops and seminars and got licensed through the city and state.  I drew up my experience with 5 different management companies and decided that my company would be different, that we'd just 'do better'.