S01E04 - How Anne ended up in Chicago and developed her career in real estate

Making Lemonade Podcast with Anne and Carol

In the fourth episode, Anne talks about how she ended up in Chicago and her career in real estate, and how she transitioned after graduating from law school to real estate. Anne and Carol also discuss Carol's real estate investment in Chicago and the process of doing that from abroad with Carol living in Hong Kong. Topics Covered: 00:18 - Caroline introduces how Anne ended up in Chicago and how she developed her real estate business. 00:30 - Anne and Carol catch up about their weekend. Carol talks about taking her daughter out on the boat in Hong Kong. 01:22 - Anne shares about her Labor Day Weekend in the US. Anne and her friends rented a lake house in Wisconsin for the long weekend and went jetskiing and also dined at a local supper club. Carol shares she's going to watch Anne's IG stories for a recap of her weekend. 04:03 - Anne shares some of her family background and their interest in real estate. Her uncle owned a commercial brokerage and specialized in land acquisition and development so over the years property investment was just something the family always had a hand in. 4:40 - Anne discusses her move to various states before arriving in Chicago for law school. After graduating from law school a semester early, she planned to pursue a career outside of traditional legal work. She took that legal education and combined it with all the knowledge she had growing up in a family that loved real estate investment and begin her career in real estate. 05:25 - Anne talks about her focus on investments from the beginning because it's what she knew best. She shares that her clients typically buy and hold properties. They range from condos to small multi-family buildings to mixed-use buildings. 06:01 - Anne specializes in guiding clients into their first-time investments in Chicago and show them how they can make a healthy return on the investment. Having a legal background helps her to better explain concepts to her clients. 06:28 - Carol shares that Anne helped her find her first investment property in Chicago. Carol now owns two investment properties in Chicago purchased both without seeing it in person beforehand with the help of Anne. 06:54 - Carol discusses what she felt was the most challenging part of purchasing her first investment. Carol said it was hard to get a feel for the neighborhood because online she could only see photos and price. Carol relied on Anne's expertise in the local neighborhoods and videos of the surroundings. 08:16 - Carol shares about the returns on her investments over the past four years are around 6-7%. She states that the value in each property has increased but also the HOA fees have also gone up. Carol says overall the return has been steady. 09:00 - Anne shares she is happy to get into more details of what a good investment looks like in Chicago on a future episode. Send us a message if you want to hear more about the details of this deal or any other future deals. 09:20 - Next episode we will hear about Carol's move to Hong Kong and her life as an ex-pat. Follow Anne and her stories on Instagram at @fanofluxury, and tour some Chicago listings and good restaurants in and around Chicago! Connect with Anne https://www.linkedin.com/in/annefan http://fanofluxury.com [e-mail] Connect with Caroline https://hk.linkedin.com/in/cchou http://openuu.com [e-mail]