News from the Chicago Chapter

IREM Chicago Scholarship Spotlight: Edgar Barron, Property Manager, Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation

Edgar Barron, Property Manager
Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation

I am the oldest of three, which is why a l often inspire my younger siblings to continue their education and aspire for greatness.  I got into property management because I believe having proper housing should not be a luxury, but something that is accessible to all. Outside of work I enjoy sports, craft beer, whiskey and tacos.

I wanted to pursue the Accredited Residential Manager (ARM®) designation in order to advance professionally in my career in property management.  One day, I want to start my own management company, and having the ARM designation will help me achieve that goal. I also want to pursue the Certified Property Manager (CPM®) designation and saw this training as a great first step.

I really enjoyed taking the “Managing Residential Properties -- RES201” class hosted by IREM Chicago. It was fun, interactive and educational.  It was also amazing to converse and exchange opinions and ideas with everyone else in the class. I gained a great deal of knowledge on how other professionals manage their properties and picked up some techniques to incorporate into the properties we manage.  The instructors were great as well and made the course material easy to understand; they were willing to work with the students to get through the material.

Working in non-profit property management, I feel many tend to forget that we are still running a business. One of the things that stuck to me during the course -- and I brought this insight back to my team -- was that we have to treat the properties we manage as our own, even if we are a non-profit.  

I will be using what I learned during the course to better lead my team in managing our portfolio.  I am also looking to start buying my own rental property, and I will incorporate what I learned from this course to help me achieve success.