How Kindness Builds Cash Flow in Property Management | Tracy Scanlon

Tracy Scanlon (00:00)
So all of this is keeping good tenants, good vendors, good buildings. And then if everybody stays, I end up making more money.

I’m not paying leasing agents, I’m not paying painting cleaning costs, I’m not having to kiss a lot of frogs looking for the next right tenant to place in the next right building, right? I’m very careful. take my responsibility of housing people very seriously. Everybody deserves to be safe in their space. I want everyone to feel secure and at home. I want you to walk into my building and go,

Quentin Edmonds (02:08)
Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds and I am super excited to be here today. I am excited about my guest. She embodies so many of the things that I value. So much so she uses some of the words that I feel like I’m the only one that use on this podcast. I mean, words that I try to slip in that I think, you know, it’s so, I’m so descriptive and paint pictures. Well, she’s using those words and I’m like.

That’s my word. And so I’m excited. I really think there’s gonna be a lot of synergy here, but I know you guys are gonna learn a lot. And so I’m so, so excited. I think one of the phrases for me that just is like the epitome of just how I know her character and where her mind is. She said the word sustainable community. That’s what she has built. And a lot of people cannot build that. A of people just can’t build it. And so I’m so excited.

to introduce you all to, and this is our first time on the podcast, so I’m super, super excited, Ms. Tracy Scanlon Ms. Tracy, how are you today, man?

Tracy Scanlon (03:13)
Great. Thank you so much for having me.

Quentin Edmonds (03:14)
Absolutely, no, I’m so glad you’re here. ⁓ I am the type, I like to dive in, make full use of our time. So I would love for you, if you don’t mind ma’am, I want you to tell people what’s your main focus these days. If you don’t mind, give us a little bit of an origin story, kind of how you got into the space where you’re in, and then tell them where you are in the world, because people love to know where you are geographically. And so Ms. Tracy, ma’am, you have the floor.

Tracy Scanlon (03:40)
Yeah, so I am born and bred in Chicago. Love this town. I tried moving elsewhere and I kept coming back here. So I am Chicago girl. I’m based on the north side, ⁓ but I’ve managed properties all the way from Sauk Village to Evanston. I manage residential and a couple commercial properties in Chicago only. ⁓

Quentin Edmonds (03:50)
Yeah.

Tracy Scanlon (04:07)
Yeah, I love what I do. And I didn’t know this was a career that I could have. I started out in the 2000s. I had a condo I couldn’t sell.

and the market had just changed in that neighborhood. So I thought, well, I’ll put a tenant in here. And it was great. I loved it. I love being of service. That is my life’s goal. So I look at what I do is being of service. Somebody needs their toilet fixed. I’m going to help them take care of that. Somebody is looking for maybe ⁓ a two bedroom and they’re currently in a one bedroom. I love being that person who’s going to welcome them into my building.

of it when I can connect two people who are both in the same building with their permission, of course, to say, hey, you’re getting your grad degree in microbiology. I have somebody getting her PhD in invasive fish in the Great Lakes.

could I connect the two of you because I think that you guys are going to vibe and then they become best friends. I love that kind of thing. So that’s just how I started was was one condo. ⁓ I parlayed that into I now manage a little over 1000 rental units in Chicago. I’m still very small by Chicago standards.

But it’s manageable. I still know the majority of my tenants by first name. I know them, you know, when they have a pet, what the dog’s name is. I keep dog treats in my office for the little guys who come and visit. And I never want to lose that kind of neighborhood feel.

Quentin Edmonds (06:32)
Whoo.

So, as you was talking, I got my pen up, I’m writing, I’m actively listening to what you said, I’m enjoying the story. I’m like, when I hear someone talk, I see it in pictures, you know? And so I just see, you give the dog treat to the dog when they come into the office and they own the little leash. I just see it all. And so thank you. Thank you for… ⁓

us where you are, walking us up to how you got to where you are. And so Ms. Tracy, I’ve been actively listening. I’m going to say some things to you because I want to make a statement that asks you a question. And so born and bred in Chicago, and you’ve managed properties all over Chicago. You absolutely love what you do. In the 2000s, there was a condo that you couldn’t sell. That’s kind of like kind of started to create a little bit, ⁓ And you absolutely love being in the service.

You love connecting people. That’s you and I, we share that in common. I tell people all the time, my purpose is to unite and my passion is to do storytelling. I love connecting people to either themself, to each other, to points, to resources. I love connecting people. You said, listen, you may connect people, they may become, they may even become best friends. And so you manage over a thousand rental units. You know the dogs and the owners and the renters name.

know them by name. I say all of this to you because I have a saying, Miss Tracy, I say destiny has no wasted moments, right? Meaning that no matter where we’ve been, the journey of the life has built the momentum to where we are now.

And we borrow from each leg of the journey. And it reinforces our mindset. It reinforces our passion, our purpose. We know our why. It opens up doors for innovation. We learn new ways of serving people. And so I would love to know for you, Ms. Tracy, the journey. It’s been building momentum, but over the journey, what have you learned about yourself? What has the journey, what have these moments, forveiled to you about you?

Discipline, resilience, humbleness, like what is the journey revealed to you about yourself?

Tracy Scanlon (08:39)
That’s a great question. ⁓ I’ve learned that I’m tougher than I thought I was. ⁓ And I’m actually pretty clever at naming things. like, before it was a big deal, I started coming up with, ⁓ it just in like taglines or campaigns and stuff. ⁓

I named my company Edge and Up after Edgewater and Uptown because those are the neighborhoods that I started in. ⁓

and it’s kind of punchy. But yeah, I started a, I called it the question campaign and it was just like, here’s a pile of dirty laundry. And then the, my question was, do you love doing laundry? Neither do we. That’s why we have a lot of machines in a big bright laundry room. know, little things to like actually get people to notice. And that was again, in like the 2000s.

when it wasn’t really a thing. know, ads for apartments were very much no character, no personality. And everything I do, everyone who works for me, my staff, we all have big personalities, we all care, we’re going to go that extra step. And so like, how do you say that in an apartment ad when you’re just looking at a kitchen, a bathroom, a bedroom? ⁓ So I would I would throw in a little cutesy thing like, hey, we like dogs too, you know, or ⁓

You know, we’re really, I had one that was a guy on the train and it was like, you’re $2.50 away from everything. Because Chicago, one of the best things about this city, one of the things that I love about the city is literally public transportation will get you anywhere.

Like we have, it’s like DC or New York, it’s unrivaled, ⁓ our public transportation. you know, I love, I’m a big cheerleader for this city. ⁓ And yeah, so, I even though like my footprint has gotten smaller ⁓ over time, I just, don’t manage stuff on the South or West sides anymore. I’m really just from downtown along a strip up North to Evanston, but like.

I’ll still go to Chinatown. I’m still taking my kids all over the city using public transportation. It’s one of the nicest things about this town.

Quentin Edmonds (11:33)
so much. you for that thoughtful, reflective answer. And I just, love the way you think. I love the way you serve. know, I often say this proverb on the show that when you refresh others, you in return will be refreshed. And I just, I just firmly believe that when you have the heart of a servant at any

foundation of any sustainable business is servitude. That’s just what I believe. Like it’s just it’s and it just keeps going and going and going. It’s like a boomerang. When you serve others, the service got to come back to you. You have to be refreshed. And I think that’s what’s going on with you. I think this is what I’m noticing is that the way you serve others, this is why you are always the freshest, why you are so bubbly. This is why you always have room to figure out how can I serve more people?

without being exhausted, without being overloaded, because it’s just it’s the overflow within what’s in you is to serve. And so just finding different ways to serve people, other communities. And we’re going to get more into that. ⁓ I just I see it makes total sense to me now. I would love to know what is the next real goal for edging up? What’s the next real goal? What are you looking to solve at scale next?

Tracy Scanlon (12:48)
⁓ Well, this is what I’m working on now. So I don’t know if it’s a goal, but we are purchasing a building from a long term friend of mine. ⁓ And I’m doing this with some of my staff. So

They’re going to have part ownership of it. They’re going to start their real estate journeys. I’m going to hold their hand as we do this together. And then they’re going to see how that equity builds, what it takes, what getting a loan actually really looks like, not just theoretical, getting the appraisal, getting the inspections, getting the platasurveys, all of these things, and the lawyers talking to each other. These are crucial.

to owning and investing. And I’ve done it so many times that to me it’s kind of like, they’re just going to talk to each other. But my staff’s a little bit like, ⁓ wait, is everything OK? The lawyer keeps emailing. No, that’s normal.

That’s what lawyers do. They’re going to email every last thing, right? But that’s what we pay them to do. And they’re going to read everything with a fine-tooth comb, and they’re going to protect our interests. So once we have this taken care of, I’m going to be able to show them the numbers and watch the appreciation. And I am a broker, so I can give them those comps and show them just where they’re at. And then at some point, they can leverage that and purchase the building on their own.

Quentin Edmonds (13:49)
Yeah.

Tracy Scanlon (14:16)
whatever they want to do, but they’ll have a little bit more financial freedom. So that I’m really excited about. I love watching my staff grow and improve and we’ve all worked together for so long that it’s really heartening.

Quentin Edmonds (14:29)
because,

ooh, all right, so I’m gonna love asking you this question because normally I would talk about relationships, but I’m gonna use a word that you introduced very early, community, sustainable community. So please tell us what is your philosophy? What is some of the strategies that you use to create a sustainable community?

Tracy Scanlon (14:52)
So.

I tell everybody who works with me, the first thing you do is you lead with kindness, right? Everybody’s having a moment. Everybody’s having a day. Sometimes we see people not at their best. You always lead with kindness. It never hurts to be kind. Take a moment, take a breath, sit down in yourself, ground yourself, and know that this is a human being coming to you and you’re a human being. Meet them on that level. Just be human with each

other and then if you treat everybody not necessarily the way that you want to be treated because I have found that you different cultures have different ⁓ ways of handling other people so I’m like treat everybody the way that you would want them to treat your grandmother okay think about Nana and think of how you want somebody to first interact with your grandmother and that’s how you’re gonna approach everybody with curiosity and kindness and

a bit of grace and you know maybe she’s a little slower, she doesn’t speak as quickly, you’re going to give her a little bit of time, right? So you’re going to treat everybody that way and then you’re going to hopefully keep them if they’re your tenant, if they’re your vendor, you’re going to keep that relationship going with them and over time that relationship is going to build a bond of trust. So then if they need a little extra from you, you’re going to feel comfortable giving it to them. If you need a little bit of grace from them, maybe

you

can’t fix something right away, maybe it’s a bigger project than you expected and it’s going to be a little more disruptive in their life, they’re going to give you a little bit of grace. But also tenant, vendor, you know, maybe it’s a plumber, electrician, and me, we’re all going to have one shared goal of keeping the building well.

keeping the community beautiful, keeping the neighborhood beautiful, right? And so that all the three of us working together, it’s going to mean that we’re all gonna do a little bit extra. We’re all gonna, you I’m gonna pick up some trash when I’m over there. My plumber is gonna say, hey, I saw this issue, you didn’t call me out for it, but I’m gonna fix that for you as well. Tenant’s gonna let me know when something isn’t working, because they know that I’ll respond well and say, thank you, thank you for telling me about that.

That could have been a really big issue had you not let me get ahead of it sooner. So I appreciate that.

So all of this is keeping good tenants, good vendors, good buildings. And then if everybody stays, I end up making more money.

I’m not paying leasing agents, I’m not paying painting cleaning costs, I’m not having to kiss a lot of frogs looking for the next right tenant to place in the next right building, right? I’m very careful. take my responsibility of housing people very seriously. Everybody deserves to be safe in their space. I want everyone to feel secure and at home. I want you to walk into my building and go,

This is where I belong. So if I do my job right, the building’s well maintained, the tenants stay, the community thrives, and it actually makes me more money. Doing the right thing is a great financial success story.

Quentin Edmonds (18:42)
And ladies and gentlemen, that’s the playbook on how you build a sustainable community. ⁓ Authentic playbook, an organic playbook on how you build a sustainable community. And you hear that? She didn’t make no comments about it. This is going to make us money. But this is the healthy, sustainable, organic, authentic.

way to build a community. I love it, Miss Tracy. Listen, is there anything, any topic that I have not brought up that you would like to talk about? Is there any other words of education, inspiration, motivation? Because like, I don’t know, if you came in with a thought on your mind that you wanted to deliver, I just want to make sure you get a chance to deliver that to the audience. So I kind of just want to open up the floor. So if you have a message that you want to deliver, I definitely want you to deliver that to our audience.

Tracy Scanlon (19:37)
Thank you. ⁓ I am incredibly passionate about working with other women.

Quentin Edmonds (19:38)
Absolutely.

Tracy Scanlon (19:45)
women who have been historically left out of the conversation, or a lot of these women have imposter syndrome and think, I couldn’t do that. I’m not a developer. What do I know about real estate and owning and managing properties? And I promise you each and every one of these women is smart and capable. If you’ve run a ⁓

a household, you’ve balanced a checkbook, you know how to pay bills, you know how to have a good conversation with people, then you can be a housing provider. ⁓ And so I created this group called WHIP, the Women Housing and Income Providers, it’s W-H-I-P. And

We meet quarterly in person and then we have other events as well. ⁓ And we just get together, we educate, we advocate for, and we support women and men who enjoy working with women who just want to learn more about how to own and invest responsibly and make money creating generational wealth and ⁓

I gotta tell you, think women run some of the best buildings in Chicago. I was telling you earlier, I would put any one of my buildings up against one of the big boy male ⁓ management companies. And my building will cash flow every bit as much as theirs does, if not more. And my tenants are all gonna be happy. ⁓ So I just…

I love connecting with women who either are managing, investing, or aspire to. And these women, in turn, asked me to help them give back more. So now these women and I, we’re going into the high schools, we’re going into trade schools, and we’re talking to rising seniors or ⁓ folks who are still in that transitional period about

Maybe a job in the trades. What it looks like to have credit. If you’re going to buy a place, what do you need? Creating that relationship with the banker early on so that they’re more likely to say yes when you go to them for your first loan. ⁓ How to vet a good potential landlord.

you know, are you gonna want to rent an apartment, ⁓ you know, in a snazzy neighborhood for the top of your budget, or are you gonna wanna think a little bit more about that and what your long-term goal is? A lot of these conversations these kids have not had already, and I love that these women who are part of WHIP,

who are already doing all these great things, lives are so full, this is what they wanted to do. They wanted to give back to the high schools, to the trade schools, to the community. So I’m incredibly proud and passionate about those women.

Quentin Edmonds (22:47)
Tracy, I appreciate you so much. Thank you. Thank you for delivering that message. Thank you again just for your authenticity and just your integrity. Listen, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re knowing, how can they get in contact with you,

Tracy Scanlon (23:04)
⁓ Just go to the website whipchicago.org. ⁓ It’s W-H-I-P-chicago.org. ⁓ If you Google my name, you’ll find me. And yeah, I mean, I’m on the north side of Chicago. I’m all over the neighborhoods. You will run into me if you’re here. I’m everywhere.

Quentin Edmonds (23:16)
Yeah, yeah.

Absolutely. Listen, Miss Tracy, let me say three things to you sincerely. Thank you for your time. mean, time is one of my most precious commodities. Could have been doing anything, be anywhere in the world, but you spent some time with us. So thank you. Thank you so much for your time. Secondly, thank you for your story. Thank you for your narrative. ⁓ I believe stories have a way of hitting people in the heart and planting seeds. And we may never see the outcome.

but the seed is there and it could harvest at any given time, two weeks from now, a year from now, five years from now. And so I thank you for planting seeds and people that can literally course correct their life. And so thank you so much. And lastly, thank you for your mindset, the way you think and bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you, man.

Tracy Scanlon (24:13)
Well, thank you so much. This was great.

Quentin Edmonds (24:15)
Absolutely,

absolutely. Listen, y’all heard Miss Tracy. Please get into the show notes, get in contact with her. Reach out to WHIP, Women Housing Income Providers. mean, listen, reach out to Miss Tracy. But definitely make sure you’re subscribed here because I promise you we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Miss Tracy. So ma’am, thank you again.

And everyone else, listen, you have a fantastic day.