June 30, 2009 by Chris.

EveryBlock is a great site that was funded through a grant from the Knight Foundation. You can view crime activity (and other things) down to the street block level. Their mission is to provide ultra-local street block level news.

Today is a big day for EveryBlock as their grant period is now finished with the Knight Foundation. As part of the grant, they promised to release their source code to the public. This will allow programmers to build more functionality on top of the EveryBlock data, kind of like how Apple allows programmers to build apps for the iPhone.

CNA Capital is all over this source code. We plan on overlaying this crime data with MLS listings data to find cheap properties, on good streets (i.e. low crime), in areas where other investors may overlook (i.e. bad zip codes). Distressed properties in Chicago offer a HUGE opportunity right now and this just gave us an extra tool!

Link to EB source code: The EveryBlock source code

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June 21, 2009 by Chris.

CNA Capital was formed to give investors a good return on their money while investing in Chicago real estate. For example, let’s say you have $40k in cash (or in an IRA) that you want to invest, but that you don’t want in the volatile stock market. You would tell us that you’re willing to invest that amount, then tell us if you’re interested in a short-term flip or a longer-term buy/hold/rent investment. We then pool your investment with others who are looking for the same thing and we get a property under contract. We then oversee the investment (either rental or rehab) and report to you periodically to let you know how things are going. The investment then liquidates after a certain pre-set time period and we return your money and profit. CNA Capital takes a small cut of the deal for arranging everything and can also make a performance fee if we beat the benchmark return that we set for you upfront (this aligns our interest with yours - we make more money by making you more money).

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June 16, 2009 by Chris.

This article includes a great illustration of hard-money loans vs rehab loans.  CNA Capital will use these types of loans (when prudent) in addition to your investment, to give you the best return on invested cash possible. Don’t worry if you don’t understand this illustration - that’s what we’re here for!

Quickly Obtain Hard Money For Rehab Loans by Synergy Equity Management - EDUCATION

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June 15, 2009 by Chris.

Below is a link to an interesting article on CNN.com about a new type of search engine (the founder doesn’t agree that it’s a search engine - probably so she’s not directly competing with Google!). This engine asks you a bunch of ideological questions when you create your account to create your profile, and then it tailors your online searches to best meet the type of person you are based upon your profile. In theory, your research should be quicker.

If I may make a stretch, this is similar to the services that CNA Capital is here to provide for you. Once you contact us, we establish a profile of the type of real estate investments you want to make (e.g. higher risk/higher return vs. lower risk/lower return; short-term vs. long-term; rehab and flip vs rentral; etc) and we then inform you when we have an opportunity that fits your needs. In essence, we have a ‘hunch’ of what you’re looking for. We feel that you’ll love the fact that you can make a great real estate investment through us without taking up so much of your precious time.

Just like searching on the new site ‘Hunch’ in the article below, we help you make decisions on where to invest your money.

‘Hunch’ Web site will make decisions for you - CNN.com

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June 10, 2009 by Chris.

We’re currently doing a full gut rehab on a three-unit building near Andersonville. One thing I’ve realized is that a good architect is worth every dollar (or should I say thousands of dollars). While the price tag can be tough to swallow, a good architect can help you achieve the following:

1. Force you to figure out what you want upfront - this saves you money and time (which is ultimately money) in the long run. Forcing you to decide the specifics upfront allows you to get more accurate (and generally cheaper) bids from a general contractor as their are less unknowns (i.e. risk) for the GC. You also save time by not changing direction mid-construction because you hadn’t totally decided everything upfront.
2. Makes all the little decisions that you would probably screw up - would you really think that putting a toilet a couple feet farther from the main plumbing stack would cause you to have to drop the ceiling in the unit below? Or how about making sure your master bath door doesn’t open up to hit your master bedroom door?
3. Feng Shui - as an accountant, harmony is when my debits equal credits. I never would have thought to find harmony by placing the toilet out of sight so I don’t see it when I first walk into a bathroom. Even if you don’t agree with this WC placement, you can at least feel cool telling someone your property is very Feng Shui.

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June 6, 2009 by Chris.

Most of our investment opportunities need two things: 1) cash for a down-payment and 2) credit to secure financing. Either one can get you a piece of ownership in the investment. I think the first is obvious, but the second warrants a bit of explanation:

For investment properties with four residential units or less, we can get much better financing terms (lower down-payment and better interest rate) if we use residential financing as opposed to commercial financing. However, to secure residential financing, a person must put the mortgage in their own name. To qualify, this person must not already have too high of a personal debt to income ratio (caused by auto, school, credit card, home loans). As a result of you providing credit, which saves financing costs, you a rewarded with a piece of ownership in the investment property with zero cash!

Now of course there are other considerations to be aware of, which we would be happy to explain; please contact us at info@cnacapital.com if you would be interested in this type of arrangement.

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June 6, 2009 by Chris.

We officially have lift-off and our first property under contract! However, our attorney says we can’t post specifics about it online. Please contact us at info@cnacapital.com if you’re interested in investing cash or using your stellar credit to allow us to get financing.

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June 5, 2009 by Chris.

We’re meaning to add meaning to this site, but right now we’re too busy treasure-hunting for bargain investment properties. Please send an email to info@cnacapital.com if you’re interested in hearing about current and future investment opportunities.

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