The Jason Theory
Jason Stratton of KlopasStratton Team, a top 20 team in the nation with over 1.5 billion sold , sits down with weekly guests to talk about becoming successful, the real estate market, and crazy stories/people we run into. Visit www.klopasstratton.com to see more!
The Jason Theory
S5 E6 - Traps that kill deals that most sellers and agents dont understand
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We get real about why a “great” real estate offer can still be a bad deal and why the agent who shows up and does the work changes everything. We compare city and suburban deal culture, then dig into condo document traps like the 22.1 that can derail a closing at the worst time.
• differences between city buyers and suburban buyers and how showings change outcomes
• why listing agents should be present to answer questions and vet buyers
• red flags at showings and how a deal can collapse after a strong offer
• a real-world breakdown of the 22.1 condo disclosure and the 72-hour cancellation window
• special assessments hidden in meeting minutes and why reading the docs matters
• using AI tools to summarize condo documents and speed up due diligence
• sneaky Chicago neighborhoods and price points on the Northwest Side
• Taft High School lore and the Grease connection as a Chicago throwback
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Last Minute Contract Risk
SPEAKER_00People don't understand that you can be out of attorney review and three days before this is really important, actually. It is huge important. Three days before you close, all of a sudden a big building's like, oh, here's a 22.1. The 22.1 could be perfect. It could be beautiful. If you want out of the deal, that you're out. Correct. Because you can cancel on the 22.1 for any reason. What's the five P's? Do you remember it?
SPEAKER_01Proper preparation prevents poor performance.
SPEAKER_00There you go. It doesn't matter how much money we get. If we don't close, it's no money, right? So no close is no money. I'm everything that I am because of my dad's death. And I wouldn't be as successful without his death. Welcome to the Jason Theory where we keep it real podcast. I'm here with almost like my co-host, my sidekick, Ken and Jungworth. And we are going to be talking about real estate. We're going to be talking about agents. We're going to talk about we may our pre, our pre, what do they call that? Like when you meet pre and you talk. Pre-talk? Pre-talk. Yeah, but there's a word they call in the podcast radio when you meet beforehand and you talk about things. Anyways, we may get into body hair. You may get into body hair. All right. So Ken doesn't want to get into body hair, but the the fact that I mentioned body hair may we may get more listeners for a longer time waiting for what is up with the body hair. But but we're going to leave them on a cliffhanger.
City Vs Suburb Buyer Mindsets
SPEAKER_00The first thing we're going to talk about is the buyers, the difference between like people that are buying in the city and people that are buying in the suburbs and the agents and the city of the suburbs. So listen, don't get offended. We're just going to talk how we feel about the situation. And I'm going to start off by saying, I don't, you know, I have a couple listings in the suburbs. Ken does business in the suburbs too. And I think upstairs we were just talking about in the pre-show meeting. That's it. The pre-show meeting. Pre-show meeting. And during the pre-show meeting, we were talking about the fact that I had was doing a deal, was seeing trying to do a deal in Glenview, and I happened to bump into the agent randomly because you know they don't meet you. And we had such a great conversation. Not only did we have a great conversation, he answered so many questions. The guy has sold, he told me, numerous places in this development. And the fact of the matter is, is that him being there. Oh, that was the townhome deal. Yeah, him being there sealed the deal for my clients. And I just I'm I and you have my you we're on the same page, but let's maybe you can devil's advocate. What is the advantage of hiring somebody that's not going to sell your house, other than you know, hit send you a one-day code? I I've always devil's advocated. Try to hit the other side.
SPEAKER_02I know. I always thought it was weird that no one would show their houses in the suburbs and that some stranger would just come in and look around your house with their agent and nobody's there to answer questions. I think in the suburbs, it's like everything. It's probably hard to put that genie back in the bottle. I think it's easier for scheduling for them, right? Okay, the scheduling I could see. I think it also lets you guys talk more openly if you were showing there without said person there, said agent, right?
SPEAKER_00So do you think being able to talk openly is better than getting information on the house, the hoa, how things are, and and and doing and and selling? Because if if that's the truth, then why when we walk into any store are there people there to help us out? So why why like there why is there anybody at a car dealership? I mean, I don't think it's the right approach. No. But I'd like to. Think if you wanted to buy a car, which is let's say one-tenth the price of a house, maybe one hundred.
SPEAKER_02People probably do more research on that.
SPEAKER_00But they still think if you walked in to buy a car and there's no one there. It'd be weird. It'd be weird. Yeah. I mean, because they could do it. You could put a kiosk up and be like, oh, I want this, or I want this, or I want this, or let me just send you the contract for the car. I'm not gonna, you know, I'm not gonna drive it. I don't know anything about the car. I don't know the features of the car. I know nothing about the car. I just like the way it looks. That's it. Let's buy it. I that's the feeling I get when I go to the suburbs. All right.
SPEAKER_02So you ran into this guy, it was great. I always think it's like weird. We touched on this the last podcast. Like you would want to size up those buyers.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's what he said to me. He said, I'm so there was multiple offers.
SPEAKER_02But he could have just done that from the get-go.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. But think about it. We may not have got the place if he did not meet my clients and myself and tell his seller, hey man, I met these guys. I met these guys, I feel good about them. Well, he should have met everybody as far as I'm concerned. And and who knows the other people who didn't get it, if they didn't meet him, they may have even been better buyers.
SPEAKER_02Which leads me to a other suburban thing was weird too. Yeah. Where you did meet the buyers, you had a feeling about them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So we had to that story.
SPEAKER_02We didn't talk about that.
SPEAKER_00So so let well let me just stay on this for one more second. So then he says to me, I'm so glad I met you guys. I feel so much comfortable, blah, blah, blah. And I wanted to say to him, Well, that's why someone hires you. I mean, I don't like other than just putting it on the and I and I get like I get these these haters online, they're like, Oh, I can go on chat, like the one guy who went viral about going on Chat GPT. I mean, I I could care less that he sold this house on his own. But I get it. If you're in a town where people just put a lockbox on and they're basically just paper pushers, I can understand why haters are online saying I could do XYZ. It's like, come into the city of Chicago and be a realtor. It is a much different situation, especially in the market that we're in right now. But, you know, like like you said, yesterday, the couple days, a couple weeks ago, I'm selling a place that's several million dollars, and I got hired over a suburban agent because he's like, they don't want to do showings. I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, if I hire somebody and I say I want to do showings, they talk, like, I want you to be there. They talk me out of it and tell me why it's not a good idea. And the first, the two things they say are the ones you hit on. It's a little bit more of an easier, flexible schedule. Now, here's my problem: it's a suburbs. There's parking everywhere. Yeah. So how are you not on time? When I'm late, it's because I'm dealing with city traffic and nowhere to park. When you're up in Sleepyville, there's parking everywhere, and you can drive wherever you want to drive. There's no, there's no traffic. And then the second thing was people can be more open and honest. And I said, Well, I'm it's not like I'm sitting next to them and like putting my arm around their shoulders and saying, Hey, tell me what you guys are talking about. Well, there are agents that would smother people, but that's a whole nother Those are the city ones. Yes. There's some smothers, dude. But I warn my clients when I see who it is, I'm like, this person is gonna be literally up your ass. And they ask personal questions. Like, yeah, it's so uncomfortable. So I get that. I get it. You have to be prepared, but there's like four of those. Like, don't don't start talking the set age and you're looking for I actually like those people, so I can't mention their name, but there's like four or five that are just out of control. Yes. And I'll leave that at that.
SPEAKER_02Getting back to that question though, on the on the Glenview, you know, you had told me about that deal. Ironically, I went for a listing appointment across the street from where you had just sold that town. Yeah. But they didn't hire me because I'm a city guy. I know I would have done a better job for them.
SPEAKER_00Well, here's my thing, too. Everyone moving into a every the people that are buying those places are city people. Right? Like, that's why the guy hired me. He's like, he goes, nine out of ten people, yeah. Are gonna be migrating from the city. What people, what's better than having somebody who's from the city works at that pace. Do you know what I'm saying? Like like not sleepy, but like has that energetic city pace while they're dealing with all the buyers that are coming from the city.
SPEAKER_02I don't know.
SPEAKER_00How do you tell no one from Glenview is buying that place? Agreed.
SPEAKER_02So they're just not. I think like what's hard to tell people is that you're not necessarily hire hiring the wrong person. I just feel like I would have done a better job for them. Well, you would have been at the listing, which is then I would number one, tried to generate some some buzz, you know, and try to get multiple.
SPEAKER_00You would have done social media, you would have done buzz, you would have been there, you would have vetted people versus just throwing it on there.
SPEAKER_02But here's the thing the guy was a little older, they're going into a retirement home. He said, I need a little more hand holding. And I'm like, but when you hire, like he ran a like CPA firm. I'm like, your clients hired you because you knew what the hell you were doing. Like, same thing with a realtor. Like, if they're a really successful realtor, you can almost hire them and just know that everything else will be on autopilot unless you need them to do something in the home. I already had told these people your place is perfect, it's gonna sell very quickly. It's just a matter of a matter of generating the most income we could on the sale, you know.
SPEAKER_00That's the way to approach it. It's like, hey, I'm gonna get you the most money because I'm gonna get the most demand. Correct. Right? And I just it's really interesting because I think if you would have got that listing and all these city people are coming, it's just really nice when someone walks in and you can tell they're in the city where you live. Oh, I live in Lincoln Park. Oh, I'm in Roscoe Village. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_02And remember when I told you about that meeting, you're like, I just sold one out there. Yeah. And you told me what you had paid for it. I already had insight into what it could sell for. Yeah. You knew you knew the above. I had probably more intel than that you knew the above met with. You knew the above asking. Correct. And you were just telling me that because you for shit's giggles. Yeah. And I'm like, weird, I'm going across the street. Like, what would be the chances of that? It's crazy. Very slim. But sort of slim.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sort of slim. So, yeah, and then, and then, so then we're talking about being there, and then I'm selling this other house, and
Why Being At Showings Matters
SPEAKER_00I'm there. They hired me because I'm gonna be at every showing, like you would be. And the guy walks in to the showing with a flashlight. Now it's an open house. It's gotta be 25 people to 30 people at this open house. And it wasn't an open house per se like how we think it was. It was what people are doing now is it was a showing box. So I had two hours every 15 minutes. People are gonna overlap because it's a massive house, but it kind of spreads them out a little bit, and everybody's just looking at this guy, you know, and older gentleman with, and it wasn't like a little flashlight, it was one of those mag lights or old school, yeah, you know. And the big battery. Yeah, yeah. What's that big battery? You know, a camping flashlight out of it. What the what the fuck is the name of that battery? What the what's the big battery? You know what I'm talking about, right? They're like this big, and they slide in, and he's sitting there, I'm like, what is he looking at? And then I I I get it, you know, and then he goes outside and he's flashlighting the brick for at least another hour. He comes back in, and you know, blah blah blah. We get we get the offer. Now, the offer is all cash, five percent over asking on the second day. And the first thing I say to my client is, don't take this offer. I'm like, this is what the person was doing. These are all red flags. It's it's not a good deal, it's not a good thing. But he said, Let's just do it because it's such a great offer. I'm like, yeah, but this is like I've never seen anybody move forward that brings a first off, I've I've I've seen people bring flashlights to uh inspections, the dads bring flashlights to inspections. I've never seen a person bring a mag light to a showing during the day. Weird, weird.
SPEAKER_02But but your client should have trusted you because you've been doing this long enough that you know when something that's and and this guy's involved in real estate, he's licensed, he doesn't practice, but he's licensed.
SPEAKER_00He's an appraiser, an appraiser, yeah. Yeah, and they took the offer three days later, cancel. Now did they do the inspection? They didn't. See, that's weird too. Then the agent Did you ask for proof of funds?
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. Okay, yeah. So they had the money.
SPEAKER_00They had the money. He had four mil in a in a one account. So then, and then the agent was beyond rude to me, but she has that reputation, I guess. It hasn't been to me because I've never interfered done with her, but she has other people that have warned me. And then suburban agent? Yeah. And then and then now I have showing, I had showings yesterday, showings to I had showings today. I have a second showing on Friday and Thursday, but the first thing everybody asks me why they cancel. Right? Because now you have that. Yeah. And that's what makes it so interesting and so difficult with multiple offers and over asking. It's like it doesn't matter what someone offers you. Are they gonna close? Because if they don't close, then you have that stigma. And then people are like, what do you need to do? What happened? This, this.
SPEAKER_02Yes, it's like the intro to your podcast. Like, we don't get paid until it sells. Until it sells.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And you're like, okay, I'm sitting there. What experience have you had recently ver that's kind of was like a little bit of a took you back a little bit, be it city or suburbs?
When The Best Offer Fails
SPEAKER_02Let me think. Oh, I I had a deal recently, I think I told you on the last podcast where my guy went 50 over list, he lost it by another 20. So we the winning offer on this one bedroom in Lincoln Park went for 420, no parking. So when this other unit came on on Sedgwick, it was also a one-bedroom with a patio and garage parking. It was priced at 370k. We went in at 433. We wanted just an 8k credit, so it would have been 425 offer. And a 370. Yes. And thought it was pretty solid. My client at the closing the other day for the other place that he ended up buying said, Hey, did you know that place on Sedgwick only closed for 380? And I I called the agent and I said, How did this sell for so low? And she said, Well, first of all, they closed within a week and it was cash. And he didn't take a commission because he was an agent looking for himself. Okay, so that would have been 10K. That's 10K. So that's 390. We still should have 35 over at that point. And maybe they didn't like our closing date, but they could have asked us to move that. I would have chanced it. You know, I've done a deal with this girl. Like she knows me. She had a unit that I sold her.
SPEAKER_00Dude, that's that's close to 10%.
SPEAKER_02I know, and they didn't take it. So I've I'm like, fuck, I've lost offers for being 50 below the winning offer, but I've never lost this is the first time I actually lost something knowing I was 35 more than what it sold for. And my client was like, Yeah, that is crazy. And I said, I know you've lost both ways in this one cycle that you've paid 50 over and lost by 20 to cash, and then you've paid this other time 55 over, and you were 35k too high. Like he's lost both ways. You know what I'm saying? That's insane. So he lost, even though his bid was 35,000 more. And she never came back to us and said, Could you do, you know, I just can you close a week earlier? Yeah, or anything or two weeks earlier. Yeah, which we probably could have. He was fully underwritten. I was just a little shocked that either these people really needed the money, and then this is the other tactic that they they use, which I guess we could try this down the road, is that it wasn't gonna be contingent on any seeing any of the condo documents that they were just fine, like going blind on that. I know. That's that's not good. So I gotta just see like in third I would.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I'm sure I'm aggressive, I would never do that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's really risky. Really risky.
The 22.1 Condo Disclosure Explained
SPEAKER_02But maybe they knew that the building was solid, but they didn't even want to review the 22.1, which for if you guys don't know, it pretty much tells you if there's any lawsuits or pending specials coming up.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, so like when you go under contract, explain when you go under contract in in Chicago, it's called the 22.1 condominium disclosure, and it basically tells you everything you want to know about the building. You normally don't get it during review. So there's attorney review, and then there's the review of the decks, bylaws, and budgets and and all the paperwork. In in Chicago, it's probably Illinois, but it definitely in Chicago, you can close attorney review, but the review remains open for three days after you get all the decks, bylaws, and budget. That's why a good agent will get all that paperwork up front so that you can put it on the MLS under additional info tab, and you can send it to the attorney. So the minute you have a deal. I do this. I don't know if you the minute I have a deal, I send everything to the seller's attorney, the buyer's attorney, and the agent so that everyone has a record that you received everything, and I put on there all documents have been received now, which means that okay, the 72-hour waiting period ends starts right now, and it'll end before attorney reviews over.
SPEAKER_02Your attorneys do this, or you do it.
SPEAKER_00I do it. You do it. I do it. So that way there's no gap. So, like yeah, there's no gap. I I I think that is a massive difference with agents. I think people don't understand that you can be out of attorney review and three days before this is really important, actually. It is huge important. Three days before you close, all of a sudden a big building's like, oh, here's a 22.1. The 22.1 could be perfect, it could be beautiful. If you want out of the deal, that you're out. Correct. Because you can cancel on the 22.1 for any reason.
SPEAKER_02It was the same as that little nuance that uh Mantis told you about where this is a cash offer subject to the building being warrantable. Yes. So you get that 22.1. It's a real slight nuance, it's a huge nuance.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I write that everywhere. Yes, it's I've been doing that now, too. Yeah, it's smart. But I I I don't, you know, it's I find it really interesting when people list properties and they have none of that paperwork, and they're like, oh, the attorneys will ask. I'm like, well, you're not gonna get it for weeks. And I tell my sellers, you are exposed to being canceled on even after reviews closed. Because those documents, the minute they're received, there's a 72-hour wait period where you can cancel.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00And everyone's like, and all of a sudden, and it happened to a client of mine a month ago where he got it. It was a seller, got the 22 one came out, the guy didn't know he had a special, and they canceled. And it's like, what? I'm like, I'm like, you have to know what's going on in your building. Yeah. So he didn't know either. He didn't know. He's an abs tee owner, investor.
SPEAKER_02And there's this- how big was the special?
SPEAKER_00Big, big, big building. Big building, not a lot of units, full roof. You're talking 25 on a $340,000 unit, the special was $25,000. And it had not been passed yet, but it was in the minutes. And they had not voted yet. I I would have had uh just told him to escrow that. He was yeah, he wasn't interested. And I said, I said, hey man, you're gonna have to pay it sometime. They're passing it. The roof is shot, and he's like, Well, we'll deal with it later. And that was it? That was it. And then the deal's done now? Or did you resell it? Hold up. It was done. Then we went to then we went back on contract. The guy got at this point, we've got everything fast, right? So everything goes out to them. They have everything, everything, everything. They requested to cancel off the 22.1 like three days after AI was over. And my guy's like, you got this document on the first day that you got your contract. He misses he missed his spot. Wow. And then what happened? He had his he had a close or lose his earnest money.
SPEAKER_02This was the second buyer?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. You gotta have your shit together.
SPEAKER_02So you basically, because they didn't object to those meeting minutes. They were stuck with it. But what if Oh man, that's harsh.
SPEAKER_00They had they had the minutes, they had everything for eight days. They never opened them up. So I I woke up this morning, this is this is may God strike me down. I woke up this morning at 5 30.
SPEAKER_02So you didn't tell that. Agent, there was potential special coming for the roof. It had not it had not been levied. Yep. It just was talked about.
SPEAKER_00It just talked about. Yep. It not been levied. Damn.
Special Assessments And Reading Minutes
SPEAKER_00I woke up this morning at 5 30. I woke up and said, listen, listen. I woke up this morning this morning at 5 30. I put a couple deals together, and all the meeting minutes and docs came over on Monday and Tuesday. This morning I woke up. I read documents for one hour this morning. If your agent's not reading those docs, because now you're leaning on an attorney who's getting paid $600 to $1,000 for a closing, probably has 20 files in front of them, probably sends these meeting minutes to someone else to read on his team. Maybe they read them, maybe they don't. But if they miss it, who gets in trouble the most? Agreed.
SPEAKER_02But you gotta do everybody's job. I just went to a a talk. This guy, um, John Gray from this private equity company, Blackstone, my money guy, invited me to, and he said that's what they're using AI for now. He's like, instead of having all these attorneys sift through this stuff, yeah, they upload it into AI, summarize it, and maybe that's what these people have to start. You have to maybe upload these things into AI. I'm gonna be like like a well, maybe that's the one thing you need to learn. Like, I'm gonna be an unk.
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna be an unk right now. How do you upload shit to AI? Do you take a picture of it and drop it on AI?
SPEAKER_02All I know is that my Adobe that I pay for has this new feature where it will summarize documents and then just give you the cliff notes on everything.
SPEAKER_00Which is be nice. Like, how many times have you been like, is there any rental restrictions? I'm like, all right, let me read the decks and bylaws. Who's in charge of the windows? Let me read the decks and bylaws.
SPEAKER_02I think that's what where it can save you a lot of time and energy.
SPEAKER_00I gotta figure out.
SPEAKER_02Because this guy, this guy was like, you know how many deal things that come through my uh plate? He's like, that's what I do on the weekends. I guess when you're worth 8.3 billion, that's what you do. But you just read. Yeah, you just read because people are always presenting deals to you. But like he said, even I'm putting these deal memorandums into AI. Is it worth my time? Yeah, and then he's like, I can generally streamline how many other follow-up questions I have based on the summary. Maybe that's what you're gonna do. I'm gonna ask Mantis if he does that. Because it would be sort of sweet. Well, I mean maybe there's some type of script that says look for rental restrictions. That's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00Squeeze through this and tell me if there's my kids will know how to do it. Yeah. Will uses AI like no one's business. I understand.
SPEAKER_02These kids are tough, they're smart. But that would save you a lot of time. I think I'm thinking about doing that for myself after hearing this, these couple stories. It's pretty rough. Dude.
SPEAKER_00I was like, but you know, there was no there was not nothing passed.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Now I'm just went to contract in that building again, and the special still hasn't been passed. So I have all the docs, I have everything, I've sent everything to that agent because I have multiple units in there. So she has everything. Self-loop. Pilson.
SPEAKER_02Pilson.
SPEAKER_00So she has everything. Now it's it's not my job since it's not been passed. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It's not your job letter due diligence for the buyer.
SPEAKER_00No, and when that attorney review letter comes in, the letter says, has any specials been leaving?
unknownNo.
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_02Doesn't mean it's it doesn't say, yeah, have any specials been contemplated.
SPEAKER_00No, it doesn't say that. Yes. And the meeting was supposed to be yesterday. And they postponed the meeting.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, it is what it is.
SPEAKER_00Oh man.
SPEAKER_02That's why you need representation. Yes. Good representation.
SPEAKER_00That was my point. Yes. My point was a good agent is gonna do the good agent is like a good baseball player that doesn't get the ball but is going to do backup.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00Like who's backing up this person? Yes. Because you are the last, you're the center fielder.
SPEAKER_02I guess I sort of checked out there in that segment because it's just shocking how like fuck these situations can become.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And the minute you get lazy and you get complacent, it's gonna go. And I was sitting, you know, I got the decks on on Monday, I got the decks on Tuesday, and I'm like, oh, I just don't want to read meeting minutes right now, and I don't want to read budgets, and I don't want to read this, and I don't want to read this. And I was like, but I gotta do it. Now, most agents will be like, hey, that's not my job. I sent everything to my client.
SPEAKER_02It'll be it'll be I sent everything to my attorney. It's gonna be your job when they're gonna blame your ass. Yeah, and you'll be like, Yeah.
SPEAKER_00What do you think that person's saying to that person that got stuck with that place? Why didn't you look it over? You're you're my advisor.
SPEAKER_02I don't know. I've always wanted to be that guy that people want to do deals with. And like even last week, I had a really small sale that was like 200K. This this person inherited some money, they bought something else for 600. But during that time, they had no keys to either of the back doors, no mail key, front door lock was jammed. I had everything re-keyed, and while nobody asked me to do it, I didn't want to like have this guy that was excited to buy this place and come in have a bad experience and have a bad experience. So I I re-keyed everything for him with one key. So I think it's like I don't know, when you talk about these experiences of real estate, sometimes it's like these big things, but sometimes it can be these little things. And I just think you at the end of the day, like you represented that seller very well. You did all that stuff that most people would pawn off. I tend to order a lot of condo docs myself, just because I want it done to you want it done, but not even for the same reasons you do. I just want it off my plate, you know. So I want to make sure I everything just is constantly moving forward.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I want to just make sure that I don't get screwed on anything because it always will lay on us.
SPEAKER_02You have help, but like for the most part, you're very hands-on, just like me.
SPEAKER_00I think the help is more like hey, send, you know, like send emails here, this or this. And my when I send emails for help, it's extremely like pinpoint on what I need. Yeah, there's no ambiguity at all.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Just scan this one document.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Using AI To Summarize Docs
SPEAKER_00So what else? So so tell me, so this year, what have you felt like obviously you're buying and you're selling and you have people moving around. Any sneaky, I know we talked about this pre-production, but any sneaky neighborhoods that you maybe didn't know and that you're starting to fall, like not fall in love with, but like I always like go to a place for a while and I'm like, oh man, this is like a really cool part of town that I never knew about.
SPEAKER_02That's what I think like is so great when you when you work different like neighborhoods and you spend a little time driving there, like you have to have lunch there. That's where you find out stuff. And by the way, nice job on those those restaurant and bar videos. They're pretty nice. I know you don't eat at any of those places that we are going to Delees tonight. Yeah, Dirk. And I did not know George invented the Chicago hot dog.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so George's hot dogs. We're gonna take a two seconds of that. George's hot dog. So George George Sr. started that hot dog place in the 40s.
SPEAKER_02That's Cortland and Damon.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Cortland and Damon, right across from the fire station. Yeah. And we started this hot dog station stand in the 40s. And then the George's this is how Greeks are, just so everyone knows. Like, my name is Jason, and my kids are named after my father, and this and this. It's how it how it's done. So two generations is another George. That George took it over. I think probably in the 60s or 70s. He just passed. It was him and his wife that ran it. His wife is still there. She's gotta be mid-70s, and she still makes all the food. Like if you go to George's right now, there is a we call them yayas, that means grandma in Greek. There is a yeah in there making you burgers, euros, hot dogs. They have the best salad with Greek chicken. Really? Oh, dude. And you know what their dressing is? Is Zadziki. That's the yogurt sauce. Yes. My god, dude, it's so good. But what happens when this poor woman now is I don't know. There's no other normally, there'd be like a young son or a young person there, but I'm gonna tell you something. Coming from a Greek family so everyone's like in the restaurants, no one wants to work like those people worked. That generation. They don't. My father-in-law has a restaurant since 1970. You know how many restaurants make it 50 years? It's like one out of a hundred. And they all have there's five brothers, and there's gotta be 70 like cousins. This restaurant put five families with all their kids.
SPEAKER_02I know it just seems sort of sad though that they're and they have to sell it because no one wants to work like that. Do you think they're gonna selling it?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they're gonna have to. No one wants to work like that. No one takes pride in that.
SPEAKER_02All right. So one I don't know how I got off on that, but it just like I asked you. I asked you about it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, no, but so George's is their claim to fame. George said that his dad invented the Chicago style hot dog. So the peppers, you know, the the salt.
SPEAKER_02That's a big claim.
SPEAKER_00He says he he said he's the one that and and so like when you're driving past George's, every once in a while you'll see like 10 people. Like, there's these food excursions that go around Chicago, and they all come to George's for the Chicago for the for the birthplace of the Chicago hot dog.
SPEAKER_02I once met Dick Portillo and Puntamita when I was on vacation, and for the first couple days, I didn't even know that that that's who I was talking to. And then what did he have anything cool to say? Well, by the third day, I met I saw him at breakfast and I talked to him for a while, and it was pretty sad. He had three sons, and nobody wanted to take over. And the one kid that was. So he sold it for a billion dollars. Yeah, so the one kid that was running the Barnellys division or whatever, his like wife always thought he was underpaid. And I mean, I felt like he was sad when he was telling me this that he had built this empire and then he sold it because nobody wanted to run it.
SPEAKER_00For a billion, though. He literally sold it for a billion.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think like the some Boston consulting company.
SPEAKER_00No, what's his name? The wizard bought it. Uh Berkshire.
SPEAKER_02Oh, he did?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Berkshire. 100%. 100%. And you know, the main thing was the real estate. Portillos owns all the real estate. Yes. It's like McDonald's. McDonald's is not a food company. Yeah, they own McDonald's. McDonald's is a real estate company where the food just just supplements people. Like McDonald's is like, I have friends that own a lot of them. When you get into the weeds about McDonald's, it's not about the food at all.
SPEAKER_02Do you know where Larrabee and Clyborne intersect right there? There used to be a freestanding McDonald's there. It was one of the few in the country that ever went out of business. Right on the northwest corner because it was Cabrini Green.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I don't even I mean, I know exactly where that is. I never knew.
SPEAKER_02Well, there was a while that I never saw it open, but there was a time when the structure was still there. Still there. I knew it was a McDonald's. And then I don't know if you lived in Chicago when there was a freestanding McDonald's where the T-Mobile store is on Michigan Avenue. Do you remember that? No, I mean I definitely lived there at the time. So that would have been Chicago and Michigan on that block. Chicago and Michigan, that's that's Watertower. It would have been it wouldn't Michigan. It would have been basically across the street from 777 Michigan. Wow. On that block, on the west block, there was a freestanding McDonald's. I gotta find the picture. Dude. Pretty cool. That's big time real estate. KFC was on the corner of where the big bull used to be on Cedar. Do you remember? There was a KFC right now. I remember that. That was pre-Gold Coast. Pre-Viagra Triangle.
SPEAKER_00That was pre-when my dad used to say to me, just don't go west of State Street.
SPEAKER_01I know it's crazy.
SPEAKER_00Don't go west of state.
SPEAKER_02Dude, I knew a guy really quick that bought a three flat in the 80s on the 1500 block of Hudson, and he said these things were selling for 60 to 80k, and they couldn't fucking give them away back then. Yeah, I can see that. Yeah, because nobody well dude, Wrigley.
SPEAKER_00Nobody waited. The three flats in Wrigley were going for 60K.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's crazy.
SPEAKER_00Oh, dude. 40 years ago. A lot. Well, this is oh my god, I'm getting over.
Sneaky Chicago Neighborhood Picks
SPEAKER_00A lot in Bucktown was 30 grand in 1998. I know. It's now seven to eight hundred thousand.
SPEAKER_02I know.
SPEAKER_00It's nuts. Let's get back. Neighborhood that you didn't know about, or maybe you did know about that you that you like. And maybe that you would advise your clients hey, I'm looking to buy a house. I can't get into the one million range. I need to be between 500 and 900,000. What what do you think? That you like?
SPEAKER_02That I like. I mean, the last three houses that I've rehabbed with my partner Kelly of Albut Northwest. Yeah, where? One was like in Soganache Schools on Peterson and Cicero. That's a nice neighborhood. Yeah, not bad. Yeah. And then one was it was another 60646 on like Bryn Mawr and Milwaukee. Okay. So good access. Yeah. But then I did hear something recently that a lot of people are buying up Airbnbs like close to O'Hare and stuff. Really? Yeah. They're like renting the people that are like stuck here? Not stuck here, but like traveling here or and they just take the blue line in? Yes. So even like a lot of people buying up different things like that and Airbnb them and stuff. So I don't know.
SPEAKER_00I have another little house and like once you got to Chicago, the Airbnb rules start to settle down and it's single, it's single family, so it's not a problem. But I'm just wondering what kind of rates they get being that far out of the city.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I don't know. If there's just bigger families just trying to I don't know, get a better deal. It just seems like if I was going to Chicago, I would go to little single family homes now for that. That's interesting. Yeah. I'll ask my my Airbnb. I got I gotta find out too, but that's just what I've been sort of hearing. But you can get nice ranches in there now for six or seven in decent school districts and still be uh armstrow to the city, you know. So I think that's a sweet price point too for people.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, do you is there anything in the city like city proper that you that you like that would be in that? I mean, like I know you're at Bridmeyer, so Bridmeyer and and Milwaukee.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00Where what what location? What where where are you when you're talking that?
SPEAKER_02It's like oh god, I don't even know.
SPEAKER_00Because Milwaukee is cutting way west there. Yes.
SPEAKER_02So it's just north of Portage Park, north of Portage Park, yes. Okay, so that's you know, that's what's happening in Portage Park, even Portage Park is great. I know because they develop that whole Irving Cicero area. That six corners where the old Sears is is really nice now. The guys from Inspectrum are opening up a restaurant up in Portage Park. Really?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's a lot of new stuff opening up up there, and you can still get a nice house there for about 600. Yes, and Portage Park is massive.
SPEAKER_02Great park, yeah. It's like it's like one of the bigger parks, like it would rival Horner Park. Like it's huge, it's huge. Yes.
SPEAKER_00How far away are you from Portage Park? Where's the closest L there? Or you're taking the metro that Jeff Park.
SPEAKER_02Jeff Park. Okay, that's what I'm about to say.
SPEAKER_00It must be Jefferson Park.
SPEAKER_02And think about all the neighborhoods that did really well in our last 20 years. They, you know, they all come off of public transportation.
SPEAKER_00Jefferson Park. I had a developer that I do stuff with not all the time now, but for a while I did a lot. And he loved Jefferson Park. Yep. We started selling houses right after COVID, probably a year after COVID. So let's say 21.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, you told me. Now you have a piece of land up there. Yeah, I have one. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So, but we started selling houses there for 650,000. He was buying the land for 75 to 100.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_002,700 square foot. Same house, right? Same plan. Bang, bang, bang. The land went to within three years, the land went to 300 and the houses went to 950. Jeff Park now is a million plus.
SPEAKER_02That was more the the 300, the 900 was more. People getting the hell out of the city. No, but that was more in line with what land acquisition was. Yeah, the land was a pro forma. Yeah. It was about a third. It was crazy. When he was selling these houses for six and getting the lots for 70, he probably made the most money.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and the material were more less, too. But that Jeff Park, Norwood Park, they have massive lots.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00Like there's some really sneaky neighborhoods. Jeff Park, Norwood Park, all that Northwest you're talking about, I think is just, I mean, it's it's doing fantastic, but I think it's gonna tease you. People can't afford Sogan Ash.
SPEAKER_02One time I I came down, I think either Devon or Peterson.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02This wasn't even like soggin ash. I think it was like, I don't know. If I found this again, I would drive you back there. You would not believe some of these homes are on four to five lots off of one of those like streets. Wonder where you were. I'll find it again. But if I took you back there, Budlawn? I'm telling you, there was there was homes in there that rivaled the neighborhood. It wasn't Budlawn, it was a little bit more.
SPEAKER_00But there are neighborhoods out there where I'm like, I've heard of this, I've never seen this. Like you see, I saw Budla. I'm like, oh, this is where. Well, you're in baseball. The house is back behind Legion Field. Oh, massive.
SPEAKER_02Beautiful.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's along the parkway.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Edison Park. Nice. Very nice. If you don't want the taxes right outside the city, Edison Park, and you get and then you get basically all Park Ridge amenities. All of Park Ridge's amenities. It's literally across the street. It's like 40,000 in taxes, 18,000 taxes. And the school, the grammar school at Edison Park is better than the grammar school in Park Ridge. Yes. And the high school in Edison Park in that north northwest side is Taft. Yep. And Taft is starting to come back. Also, Taft has a freshman campus, right? And they have and they have the accu center.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00So you can go to high school, seventh and eighth grade, which is really starting to push Taft. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I just met some some kids that are at Whitney for that seventh and eighth program. Yeah. And my neighbor's daughter is also at It's Lane.
SPEAKER_00For the same program. Really, really difficult to get into that. They have like 2,000 apps for like a hundred spots.
SPEAKER_02And that's the other thing, like really tough. You really have to know your schools, your school boundaries.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But that actually that's why we did that other house, because it was in Soginash schools, and it was great.
SPEAKER_00Dude, so yeah, I mean, people love it. Sogan Ash and Edgebrook are really, really expensive. People ask why they're expensive. It's the last neighborhood inside the city. So you get city taxes, and it's all police, political figures, and firemen because it's the they have to be inside the city and it's the furthest place before you're on the other side of the city. It's really nice.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00We're gonna leave
Taft High School And Grease Origins
SPEAKER_00you with this. What? This is crazy. This may be a snippet on IG. What is Taft known for?
SPEAKER_02Taft what? High school? High school.
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna blow your mind right now. I'm gonna blow your mind. Everyone's mind here's gonna be blown.
SPEAKER_02I think they have a big forget what they're known for now.
SPEAKER_00Like Taft is known for something worldwide.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I know what it is. Greece, the movie. Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00The movie Greece is about Taft Taft High School. Taft High School. Now I'm gonna really blow your mind.
SPEAKER_02Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna blow your mind right now. The the gang, the T-Birds, was the gang one year younger than my dad.
SPEAKER_02The T-Birds was the Trans. Was real. The John Travolta. The T-Birds were true. Like the Greasers.
SPEAKER_00The Greasers. The T-Birds were true. And the Pink Ladies was true. Now the movie Grease was actually about not the T-Birds, but the Goombas. The Goombas was my dad's gang. What is that?
SPEAKER_02Greek? G?
SPEAKER_00Goombas is Italian. It's a like Italian slang.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And Hollywood's like, we can't use the word Goombas because it's just it's it's not PG. And the writer said, Well, the gang underneath us was the T-birds. And they're like, that's perfect. I have my dad's Goombas jacket. It gets better. Really? It gets better. You can look it up. Donna Mills was a transfer.
SPEAKER_02Donna Mills, the actress?
SPEAKER_00From Falcon Crest. Yes.
SPEAKER_02Ooh, a lot of throwbacks. Hold up.
SPEAKER_00Donna this this Donna Mills was a transfer to Taft. Donna Mills was basically what. What's her name? The girl from Australia. What's her uh the the main actress in Greece? I'm having like a senior moment.
SPEAKER_01Uh Olivia Newton John.
SPEAKER_00Olivia Newton John. Her character is simpatico with Donna Mills. They both transferred in, they're both the blondes, bombshells, blah blah blah. Donna Mills was my dad's girlfriend. It taught.
SPEAKER_02You're shitting me.
SPEAKER_00Nope. And my uncle was Kanicki. I'll have to look that up. Crazy. My dad never would like, my dad would never like really comment on it. But they were interviewing, when I was young, they were interviewing Donna Mills for like the 20th anniversary of Greece, and they did a party at Taft.
SPEAKER_02Well, they just did another like the anniversary of that. That was the 50 year. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And or maybe, maybe, no. It's gotta be like no, 50, right? I'm trying to think of how old my dad is. Yeah, probably the 50th of Greece. The movie. Probably the fifth. No. What do you mean 50, 25, 30, whatever it is?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Donna Mills was being interviewed, and he said, They're at Taft, tell us something you you know you miss about Chicago, blah, blah, blah. She's like, my first boyfriend, Lee Stratton, Leon Stratton.
SPEAKER_01Come on.
SPEAKER_00And my mom heard it and got furious at the TV. And she got stood up and she goes, Well, she didn't get him. Wow. Wow.
SPEAKER_02That's a crazy story.
SPEAKER_00Crazy story. My dad's whole gang was the Grease gang. And the guy that wrote the movie was like one of my dad's closest friends in the gang.
SPEAKER_02But he wasn't the Grease gang because there were real T-Birds. The T-Birds, but they were Grease. Were they rivaled? No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00Each grade had their own gang.
SPEAKER_02Oh, got it.
SPEAKER_00They weren't rivals.
SPEAKER_02Like, yeah, that was just the same version of the T-Birds.
SPEAKER_00I shouldn't have said gang. That was the social group.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00The Goombas were the social group of my dad's year. And then the T-Birds were the year younger. And the pink ladies were all the girls. But it's all true. And my my uncle Kanicki, my uncle, Bob, was a lunatic. A lunatic. My dad was like the things he used to do, he's like, he like the movie did not do him. The movie was nothing like how he was. He was even crazier. Because Kanicki was the crazy one.
SPEAKER_02I'll have to check that out. It's a cool story. And then you're basically selling a house that looks like the Ferris Bueller Glasshouse.
SPEAKER_00So Yeah. Yeah. A lot of throwbacks. A lot of throwbacks. But that's the that's the uh and the and that whole group that wrote that movie, all those guys, that's the group that started Gibson's. Wow. That's the Goombas. The Goombas, like four of the Goombas started Gibson's.
SPEAKER_02But wasn't there also a the famous writer of Greece, like recently? Like I think they had him back, like recently. They did. They did.
SPEAKER_00He's he's like one. There's there. My mom said there's like three, she's gone to all the funerals. My mom's like, there's like three Goombas left. That's it. Because my dad would be at this point, my dad would be in his 80s.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But the Goombas got together, they were still like really close, and they're they're the they're like the original seed start money for Gibson's.
SPEAKER_02So your dad was the John Travolta. That's hilarious. It's crazy. And the fact that you actually just threw uh threw out Falconcrest, that's so great.
SPEAKER_00Well, my yeah, I mean, Donna Mills, dude.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So like when you look up Donna Mills, she went to Taft.
SPEAKER_02That's crazy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. If you could find the interview, I'll never forget the interview. I was sitting in our house. Like, you know, you got the big tube TV. Oh man, I'll never forget my mom's face when she said my dad's name. Your dad, meanwhile, was just grinning like the man. Yeah, I have a picture of my dad's senior year, and it's written to my mom, and it says, to my princess. And my mom gave me the photo, like old school photo, and my dad's hair is just pompadour. Sweet. I gotta see that. I'll I'll send you a picture of it. Any closing comments?
SPEAKER_02No, we're going to Delees tonight for dinner. Delee. I have a long day with you today.
SPEAKER_00I know. Which is Italian for delightful. Yeah. You learn that if you it's gonna be delightful when we have that thousand dollar bill.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00My uh my Will's like, are you guys playing credit car roulette? I'm like, hell no. No, we don't play that game anymore.
SPEAKER_02It's risky.
SPEAKER_00It's risky.
SPEAKER_02Though though your son would actually play it. Oh yeah. He's such a sicko.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's a whole other story. I want to have him on. We we should have him on. Yeah, he did, he did my first year, he did it when he was like Will or Lee? Will when he was like six. The kid is smart. He was like six or seven and he did it. And it was a really interesting conversation. And we talked about well, it's on it's on the intro. Yeah. But we we were like, I was like I never knew that was Will. That was Will. And I'm like, well, how do you how do you feel about when you when you when you when you pitch and somebody gives up no and you strike out? He's like, I don't really care. These kids, he's like seven, no, six now. These kids cry when they strike out. I'm just like, whatever. We're gonna get another at bat. Who cares? So matter of fact. All right.
Final Thoughts And Subscribe
SPEAKER_00It was fun for me. If you guys got lost in our conversations, anyways, look it up. Taft. We ramble. Yeah, Taft. It's an unbelievable story about Greece. All right, so thank you so much. We will talk to you later for Jason and Ken. We appreciate your guys' time. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast so you can hear more of us rambling on. And uh, we will have more interesting facts. We'll bring up some stuff about Falcon Crest in Dallas.
SPEAKER_02We really never pre talk about what we're gonna talk about.
SPEAKER_00No, but our normally our talking upstairs starts something.
SPEAKER_02Starts something.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much, and we'll see you later. Bye. Thanks.