Gurnee Antique Market

You won't believe it!  Matt and I bought an antique center.  Yes, we are the proud new owners of an antique retail store in picturesque(ish) Gurnee, IL.  Many people have asked us why we decided to buy an antique center.  That's a good question!  That's when I turn and say, "Matt?" for him to answer the question.  Yes, Matt is the Mastermind behind our diversified real estate endeavors.

I feel like I need to do a little bragging about Matt before I dive into the Antique Market story.  As most of you know, two years ago Matt stepped away from his 60+ hour a week successful construction management career to pursue a new career in real estate, which has always been his passion.  This was a little scary (at least I'll admit to it!) considering both of us have always worked for "the man" vs this entrepreneurial stuff.  But we knew with two kids and two parents working full-time, combined with Matt's crazy 6-day-a-week work schedule and long commute, something had to give.  It was only going to get harder as the kids grew up, and Matt knew he needed to have a more flexible career if he was going to be as involved in our kids' lives as he wanted to be.  So he took the plunge and has not looked back.  He is the most self-motivated, hard-working, positive-minded guy ever - I am in such admiration of him.  I could never do it!  While continuing to work a couple days a week at his old job (they won't let him go, and keep trying to lure him back with executive job offers) Matt has been extremely successful in his new career in such a short time.  He has established two small businesses, one for the real estate investment side and one for the construction portion of the business, which now has three employees.  The real estate side invests in the properties and then the construction business mostly works on the houses he buys to get them ready to flip or rent, but they also have done a couple small home renovation jobs for area families as well.  Matt also became a licensed realtor last year, and what started as a way to save money on his own investments, he found he really enjoyed and has put more and more time into it.  So that side job has grown into him being a serious realtor, a familiar face in the community, with listings and showings and open houses and everything, the whole thing.  The guy seems to be good at everything, it is disgusting!  (You know, like those people who, while eating a milkshake, proclaim "I can't gain weight!")  When it comes to properties he has flipped, renovated, rented out, bought, sold, invested in, you name it!  Each time his thoughtfulness, thorough due diligence on doing the business case, and attention to detail on all the financial intricacies has resulted in a positive investment.  So you can understand why when he told me that he wanted to buy an antique center, I of course thought he was crazy, but in the end I trust his judgement completely about real estate.  Oh, I should also mention that while doing all of the above, he has taken on all the grocery shopping, tennis lesson shuttling, errand running, laundry doing, kid haircut getting, etc. for the family.  Plus he's easy on the eyes!  Ladies, are you jealous?  You should be!

So anyway, back to the GAM (that's what we affectionately call the Gurnee Antique Market).  Matt first became interested in it because the model is similar to other properties he owns in that it really is all about rental income.  There are a bunch of booths and showcases that get rented out by dealers, so the business is actually a rental business, sort of like an apartment building for antiques.  He got to know the previous owners and they talked to him about the business, and how with antique expert on-site management of the antique side of things, the rest of the management was really more about knowing about business than knowing about antiques.  Plus, I think Matt is just interested in learning new things and trying new things so this whole idea intrigued him and excited him.  So when the deal mechanics showed it was a good investment, plus his interest was piqued in running an antique store, he persuaded me that we should buy it.  So after several months of due diligence, countless hours on Matt's part of getting all the loans and paperwork and appraisals and everything settled, we closed on January 20th.  Antique biz, here we come:)  Congratulations, Matt, and I'm so proud of you!

So that's the story!  More to come on the GAM, I'm sure, but in the meantime feel free to visit our new website (that Matt created) www.gurneeantiquemarket.com and please "Like" us on Facebook.  Or better yet, stop by and buy something, that makes us and our 100 dealers very happy.  Address is 5742 Northridge Drive, Gurnee IL.  As Matt says, "See you at the Market!"

Rebranding!