Real estate investment news you can use!

November 2025

MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD

Dear CAREIA member,

I want to congratulate you on taking the first steps becoming a real estate investor.

Most people join a REIA because they want to make money in real estate. They attend events to learn new ideas and meet new people to help make that happen. Some people attend the events and meet and learn, but never quite get to the money-making part of it. If you are new to real estate and just trying to get started, it can be quite intimidating. I get it. Homes are not cheap. You need a way to turn your desire into reality.

This will take daily effort. Treat it like baseball practice or piano lessons. You will only get out of it what you put into it.

What do I want, why do I want it, and how will I get it?

Answer these 3 questions and you will have your roadmap to success.

Set your goal. I will go out on a limb and assume that your goal is to buy an investment property and you want to make money from it every month. Set a date to complete your goal by and write it down on paper. Six months is usually enough time. Now, let's add some details to it.

Choose a target city, home type (condo, single family, etc.), price range, and how much profit or cash flow you want. At the end, write down why you are doing this. This will be your motivation. My "why" was to replace the social security income that I expect will not be around too much longer.

Post this where you will see it every day and make a point of reading it every morning.

Make your plan. You will write this down too, but you can put it in your phone or tablet or whatever works for you.

Where will you look for money? How much time and effort will you take to find the best available property? Will you need to fix it up or will it be turnkey? How will you find and manage tenants or will you have a property manager do all that?

Do your due diligence, but don't try to solve every problem before it happens. You have a goal to achieve.

Get some help. Real estate is a team sport. A good real estate broker, lender, attorney, inspector, property manager, tax accountant will all help you make money. They have done this before and can do it better and faster than you. Just make sure your partners are also real estate investors. They will understand this is your business and not just your home. Great partners can make you a boatload more money.

Execute your plan. You will need to make some adjustments along the way, but keep your focus on your goal. Millions of people before you have already done this, and most of them weren't very much different from you or me.

Just do it.

Dwayne Denzinger
Chicago Area Real Estate Investors Association - Library Director

Upcoming Events

CAREIA

Board of Directors

Cash Flow Game Night (Members Only Event)

Wednesday, November 5, 2025 @ 7:00 p.m.
McDonald's off Highland Avenue
1 Yorktown Shopping Center, Lombard

https://www.careia.org/event-6378969

CAREIA Dinner & Networking with Vendors (Special Location)

Monday, November 10, 2025 @ 6:30 p.m.
Pappa Passero's Family Restaurant, 6326 S Cass Ave, Westmont

CAREIA Members: $15; Guests/At Door: $30

Menu: Pizza, Chicken, Pasta, Italian Beef, Hot Dogs, Meatballs, Wings, Green Beans, Home-Made Chips

In addition to the dinner, our vendors will be on hand to showcase their services and offer some amazing raffle prizes. This is a great chance to learn about valuable resources to support your real estate endeavors while enjoying a fun evening of networking.

Please RSVP so we can ensure there's plenty of food and space for everyone.

We look forward to seeing you there and having a great evening together!

https://www.careia.org/event-6335823

Short Term Rental Sub Group Meeting

Monday, November 17, 2025 @ 7 p.m.

Portillo's Hot Dogs, 531 N. Randall Rd., Batavia, IL 60510

A FREE Member & Non-member Event

Anyone who has an interest in investing in short or mid-term rentals are invited to attend our monthly STR sub group meeting. Each month we will have an open forum to discuss all things short term rentals.

https://www.careia.org/event-6322235

Real Estate Networking Night

Monday, November 24, 2025 @ 6:30 p.m.

Portillo's Hot Dogs, 235 E. North Avenue, Glendale Heights, IL 60139

A FREE Member & Non-member Event

https://www.careia.org/event-6378940

Cash Flow Game Night (Members Only Event)

Wednesday, December 3, 2025 @ 7:00 p.m.
McDonald's off Highland Avenue
1 Yorktown Shopping Center, Lombard

https://www.careia.org/event-6423987

CAREIA Monthly General Meeting

Monday, December 8, 2025 @ 7:00 p.m.
Networking starts at 6:45 p.m.
Hyatt of Lisle • 1400 Corporetum Drive, Lisle

Topic: Mindset and Pre-Foreclosures

Key Note Speaker: Nita Patel

https://www.careia.org/event-6423989

Short Term Rental Sub Group Meeting

Monday, December 15, 2025 @ 7 p.m.

Portillo's Hot Dogs, 531 N. Randall Rd., Batavia, IL 60510

A FREE Member & Non-member Event

https://www.careia.org/event-6423985

Real Estate Networking Night

Monday, December 22, 2025 @ 6:30 p.m.

Portillo's Hot Dogs, 235 E. North Avenue, Glendale Heights, IL 60139

A FREE Member & Non-member Event

https://www.careia.org/event-6423983

President: Pete Gordon

Vice President: Steven Bell

Secretary: Rob Hayes

Treasurer: Vanessa Krynen

Librarian: Dwayne Denzinger

Programing: PK Kleinert

Vendor: Iva Norris

Newsletter: Belinda Moore

Publicity: Mary Ann Skweres

Membership: Danny Galvez

Tech Support: Keith Jablonowski

__________________

Our mission

To support and
promote local real estate investors
though networking, education, support, leadership on
legislative issues,
and promoting professionalism
and standards of excellence in the
real estate
investing industry.

__________________

WORDS OF WISDOM

"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” – Warren Buffet

Library Book of the Month

Probate Real Estate Investing: The Ultimate Guide to Buying and Selling Probate Real Estate

Jeff Leighton

Learn how to find great real estate deals that most people don't even know exist.

In this book, you will discover...

How to start doing probate deals ASAP, even if you know nothing about the probate process.
How to find any probate list and even outsource the list building for under $5 an hour.
Learn 5 different marketing strategies that myself and other investors have used to consistently find deals.
How to avoid common probate investing mistakes.
Learn multiple exit strategies for probate deals so that you can maximize every lead.
And much, much more...

The Ultimate Guide To Buying and Selling Probate real estate is for any investor or real estate agent who is looking to get more out of their business utilizing a special niche (probate) that has significantly less competition than any other niche of real estate.

This book will help you get started in the probate world or if you have experience already, can take your business to the next level with proven strategies from a real estate investor.

To check out materials:

Only members can borrow materials
Review inventory here: https://www.careia.org/LibaryList
Fill out CAREIA Library request form
Receive materials at the next General Meeting
Materials are due back in one month
Note. If materials are not returned, member is responsible for paying cost of materials for replacement.

National REIA Benefits

Members of CAREIA can register at National Real Estate Investors Association (National REIA) https://nationalreia.org. and learn about the negotiated group discounts from National vendors. Login CAREIA website https://www.careia.org and go to Account -> Members Only: National REIA for more details.