1. Find the product to convert

OwnACondo.com will either evaluate your apartment building or help you purchase a property to convert to condominiums.

If you are interested in converting your apartment building, OwnACondo.com will meet with you and go over all aspects of the conversion process while inspecting your apartment building physically. We will do market research and provide you with an opinion about the viability of the project. This process normally takes three to seven days, depending on the size of the project.

If you would like to invest in condominium conversions and need us to find the project for you, we will do that as well. We are in front of a number of investment opportunities weekly. This allows us to match the best property that suits your investment goals.

If you would like to joint venture with OwnACondo.com, this is also a possibility. Many times we have purchased a property from an owner, with each party contributing the capital to perform the condo conversion. This gives the owner a portion of their capital at closing and a certain portion goes back into the conversion for investment purposes.

2. Obtain Investors to Fund the Downpayment of the Project

OwnACondo.com can help fund projects with its source of private investors interested in condo conversions. OwnACondo.com would evaluate the project with the owner, and upon an agreement, help fund the project.

3. Bank Financing for acquisition and construction

With OwnACondo.com Management's experience, it has established relationships with several lenders throughout the Chicago area. Each bank will require a detailed analysis of the project, which includes a financial pro-forma, cashflow analysis, detailed construction budget, LLC agreements, sales projections, appraisal, rent rolls, leases, two-year expense history, physical inspection report for each unit, resume of developer's experience, EPA Phase One Study and an engineer's report.

4. Property Management

Even though the apartment building is being converted to condominiums, tenants are living there during the process. They have to be serviced just like at any other apartment building. OwnACondo.com's property management division is a full-service, hands-on team that collects rents, pays bills, serves five-day notices, evicts, leases vacant units, performs bookkeeping, prepares units for re-rental and oversees construction. Each month the owner gets a report updating each aspect of property management.

5. Construction

From the first day we take over a property to convert to condominiums, there is a long list of improvements that has to be made to the subject property. Our in-house construction team is prepared to handle all aspects of construction. The list is different on each conversion, but most projects require new roofs, new windows, asphalting, acid washing, tuckpointing, balcony refurbishment, landscaping, cement walkways, door entrances, hallways, painting, carpeting, lighting, fire code work, individual unit code work, sprinklers and a few upgraded model units.

We work closely with the local municipality and the Illinois statutes for condo conversion to make sure we're in compliance with all aspects of the process. Each municipality has different requirements and many times a planning commission is involved to decide many of the improvements that have to be done to a building before it can get the green light to convert to condominiums.

6. The Legal Process

The process of legally changing the status from apartments to condominiums is usually performed by our legal staff. We have several attorneys that we use based on the need. The attorney goes through a checklist of dozens of movements. After approximately three to four months, depending on the municipality involved, the attorney has all the documentation ready to close the condominiums. The attorney prepares the condo declaration and by-laws, all contracts relating to the conversion, and the legally required intent-to-convert letters to distribute to the tenants.

The attorney is also involved in closing each individual unit and the process of turning the association over from the developer to the new condo owners.

7. Bookkeeping

Our in-house bookkeepers work hand-in-hand with our accountants to provide a smooth system of accounting for each project. All aspects of finance are done in this division including rent deposits, paying bills associated with the apartment building, paying bills associated with the conversion and accounting for each sale as the revenue comes in. At the end of each month, you are given a detailed report of all accounting aspects.

8. Marketing

OwnACondo.com generates thousands of leads monthly through various marketing methods. The company name is on the right field wall of US Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox. It is also displayed behind home plate for a half-inning of each home game. The OwnACondo.com name is also on dozens of billboards throughout the Chicago area. The company airs 100+ commercials weekly on radio, and sends email blasts to tens of thousands of registered buyers and sellers of condos in its database. Consumers also find OwnACondo.com in Chicago Magazine, Crains Chicago Business, the Northern Illinois Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service (MLS), newspapers and a host of guerilla marketing methods in and around each development they represent. What does this produce? Literally every day of the week, dozens of people register to either buy or sell a condo with OwnACondo.com. This volume of buyers helps to speed the process of selling your particular condo conversion project.

9. Sales

Currently, OwnACondo.com has sixty full-time Chicago Condo Specialists that do nothing but sell condos. Each time OwnACondo.com represents a project, they dedicate two or three Chicago Condo Specialists to the subject property in addition to bringing the entire team to the project for full orientation and familiarization. This is known as an in-house OwnACondo.com brokers open.

Once the in-house open house is complete, tenant presentations begin. Each Chicago Condo Specialist is certified to do tenant presentations, with the intention of selling to the tenants first. This creates a win-win for everyone. The tenant does not vacate the unit so there is no loss of rent for the owner. The tenant doesn't have to move, because they end up buying the unit. After this process is finished, open houses to the general public begin. Normally, open houses are held between 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Mon.-Fri., and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sat. and Sun. With guerilla marketing in and around the property, coupled with the leads that come to OwnACondo.com daily from 1): its large amount of Chicagoland marketing 2): OwnACondo.com's management and support staff and 3): the team of Chicago Condo Specialists, this is normally enough to sell out a project within a reasonable time frame.

10. Association Management

An association is formed once the first condo is closed in a complex. The management of this association is handled by the developer until 75% of the units are closed or three years from the date the condo declaration was filed, whichever is sooner. Once this happens, OwnACondo.com Management helps establish the condo owners association by having a meeting with all involved. With the help of an attorney, the meeting culminates with the election of board members and officers who will lead the association and the turnover happens.

OwnACondo.com Management helps with this transition so that it's smooth for the developers and the new owners.