The biggest thing people don’t understand about becoming a landlord in South Side Chicago is that you can’t just own property. You have to actually manage rental property like a business.
That means knowing the systems, the processes, and the day-to-day realities that keep everything running. If you don’t, you’re operating blind. You might think things are happening when, in reality, they’re not.
Hands-off property management sounds appealing, doesn’t it? But in markets like South Side Chicago, it can quickly turn into a liability if you don’t know the details of your own operation. Property management is not a “set it and forget it” operation. It demands awareness, involvement, and a clear understanding of how each part fits together.
Real Scenarios Show the Gaps
Before creating Marblestone Property Group, I spoke with other property managers here in Chicagoland, looking for someone to manage my rental properties for me. I went through real-life scenarios to see what they would do, and that’s where the cracks started to show. It wasn’t a lack of tools or resources. The problem was that they didn’t have a system, and if they did, it wasn’t working properly.
I saw it so many times that I realized this was a common breakdown in property management. You can have everything in place — forms, checklists, communication tools — but if no one uses them as intended, the process stalls. Maybe they don’t understand people or how to get things done. Either way, the client experience suffers.
The Birth of MPG
And that wasn’t going to be me… or any of my friends who came to me asking for help managing their rental properties. It’s the reason I founded MPG, and we continue to live out our core values every day. So when you’re interviewing property management companies to oversee your rentals, ask questions. Do they GO-MPG?