← Back to The Boulevard Group
← Back to The Boulevard Group
Brand new or a seasoned property investor, The Boulevard Group finds and closes the deal, and Fulton Grace Realty's property management division can run it for you after.
We start with your goals, cash flow, appreciation, house-hack, portfolio growth, and the numbers that get you there.
You get curated on- and off-market opportunities with real analysis attached: projected rents, expenses, cap rates, and rehab scope.
When the numbers work, we move fast, good investment properties in Chicago don't wait.
We negotiate price and terms with your returns in mind, and secure the accepted contract.
Inspections, attorney review, financing, and closing logistics, we quarterback all of it.
Keys in hand. And if you want it, the support doesn't stop at closing.
Property management is offered by Fulton Grace Realty, a separate, dedicated division of our brokerage, and one of Chicago's most reviewed property management companies. The Boulevard Group handles your acquisition; if you want hands-off ownership afterward, Fulton Grace's management team can take it from there.
The property is professionally marketed and shown to prospective tenants.
Applications, credit and background screening, and lease execution, handled.
A property manager coordinates the tenant's move-in from start to finish.
You reap the benefits while the day-to-day, maintenance calls included, is managed for you.
Your property manager keeps you informed on the property's condition and performance.
Financial reports monthly, rent by direct deposit. Clean books, no chasing checks.
The words show up long before the good deals do. Here is what they mean, without the mystique, so the next time a lender or a listing agent uses one of them, you already speak it.
NOI (net operating income). What the building earns in a year after the running costs, taxes, insurance, upkeep, management and vacancy, but before the mortgage. Most of the other math is built on this number.
Cap rate. NOI divided by the price, as if you paid cash. A $500,000 two-flat clearing $30,000 a year after expenses is a 6 cap. Built for comparing buildings to each other, not for bragging.
Cash flow. What is left each month after everything, mortgage included. The number you live with.
Cash-on-cash return. A year of cash flow divided by the cash you put in: the down payment, closing costs and any rehab. The yardstick that matters once a loan is involved.
IRR (internal rate of return). The one yearly percentage that accounts for every dollar in and out across the whole hold: the cash you put in, what each year hands back, and what the sale returns at the end, with money that arrives sooner counting for more than money that arrives later. Its job is comparing investments that look nothing alike: a quick flip, a ten-year two-flat hold and an index fund can each be boiled down to one IRR and judged side by side. Two deals with the same total profit are not the same deal when one pays you years earlier, and IRR is the number that knows the difference. Our 30-year underwriting model computes it for any hold, month by month.
Appreciation. The value rising over time. In our book it is the only thing we call a return; the paydown below is a different animal, and mixing the two flatters the math.
Principal paydown. The slice of every mortgage payment that shrinks the loan. On a rental the tenant funds it, which is the quiet engine of long-term rental ownership. It builds equity, but it is the loan being repaid, not a return on your money.
Equity. What the building is worth minus what you owe on it. Appreciation and paydown both feed it.
GRM (gross rent multiplier). Price divided by a year of gross rent, before any expenses. A first-glance filter and nothing more.
LTV (loan to value). The loan as a share of the price. Put 25 percent down and you are at 75 LTV. Lower LTV generally means better rates and more cushion.
DSCR (debt service coverage ratio). The lender’s test on the building itself: NOI divided by the yearly loan payments. Most want 1.2 or better, meaning the building earns at least 20 percent more than it owes.
ARV (after repair value). What the place will be worth once the work is done. Every rehab number only makes sense measured against it; the flip calculator runs ARV and the 70 percent rule on a real address.
Comps. Recent nearby sales of similar places, the evidence behind any opinion of value, ours included.
CapEx (capital expenditures). The big-ticket items on their own clock: roof, boiler, porches, masonry. Owners who reserve for them monthly find a $14,000 roof year boring instead of terrible.
Vacancy rate. The share of the year a unit sits empty. Budgeting about 5 percent, roughly two weeks a year, keeps the math honest even when a building stays full.
House hacking. Live in one unit of a two-to-four flat and let the other rents carry most of the mortgage. Chicago’s housing stock was practically built for it, and 3.5 percent down FHA financing works on two-to-four unit buildings when you live in one.
BRRRR. Buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat. The refinance pulls your cash back out to do it again. It works when the numbers are real at every step, and it punishes wishful thinking at any of them.
1031 exchange. Sell one investment property and roll the gain into the next, deferring the tax. The clocks are strict, 45 days to identify the next property and 180 to close, and a qualified intermediary has to hold the money in between.
Turnkey. Already renovated, often already rented. You pay for the convenience in the price, so the question is whether the convenience is worth it to you.
Tell us your investment goals and we'll bring you opportunities with our analysis attached.
Talk to The Boulevard Group