The Mack Daddy of Foreclosure Flippers – Chicago Magazine

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Walker built the nine-bedroom home on three-quarters of an acre in the Odyssey Club subdivision in 2004-05, spending $4.1 million, according to Mack’s research.
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Mack bought the home from a foreclosure holder in early January for $750,000. “It’s an absolutely gorgeous home,” McClelland says, “built the way you would want it. They didn’t cut corners on anything.”
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When Walker and his mother, Diane, lost the 13,000-square-foot house, utilities were shut off and water was left standing in the basement. Mack pumped it out, but this black mold remained.
Photograph: Courtesy of the Mack Companies
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By February 2, when I toured the home, crews had gutted the basement, which originally contained a hair salon, a sauna, and a workout room, among other things. The rotted-out basement stairs were being rebuilt, and workers were bringing in 400 sheets of new drywall.
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Much of the rest of the house was “relatively unscathed,” Workman says, and needed only deep cleaning and repainting. Thirty-two light sconces had to be replaced, and the wall-size aquarium needed extensive cleanup. In all, McClelland estimates the rehabilitation will cost about $600,000.
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The home is on the market now for $1.79 million, or 43.6 percent of what Walker spent to build it. The main spaces are substantial in scale and include formal finishes like these paired columns in the living room.
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There are marble floors in the dining room.
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Some rooms feature marble crown moldings.
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A staircase wraps four sides of the foyer, above which hangs a chandelier that can be lowered to be dusted.
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Much of the second floor needed only cleaning and painting, McClelland says. The high-end fixtures in the master bath were all intact and operable, “which is great,” he says. “We don’t want to have to spend money on redoing all that, and [a buyer] doesn’t want to pay either.”
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Discoloration on the basement stairs shows how high the water stood. “If the utilities hadn’t been turned off, the repairs to the house would have cost $500,000 less,” Workman says.
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Walker had emblazoned Ws in the driveway cobblestones and on the outdoor basketball court behind the house. In tune with his team’s flip of the house, McClelland suggests they’re now Ms, for Mack.

The Mack Daddy of Foreclosure Flippers

The Tinley Park mansion that the former NBA star Antoine Walker lost in foreclosure when he declared bankruptcy in 2010 was left in sorry condition. Water stood waist-deep in the basement, murky goo filled the indoor pool, and at least 32 light fixtures were gone. But Jim McClelland Jr. and Eric Workman saw an opportunity…

By Dennis Rodkin

February 8, 2012, 9:35 am

The Tinley Park mansion formerly owned by Antoine Walker
See more photos in the gallery below.

The Tinley Park mansion that the former NBA star Antoine Walker lost in foreclosure when he declared bankruptcy in 2010 was left in sorry condition. Water stood waist-deep in the basement, murky goo filled the indoor pool, and at least 32 light fixtures were gone. But Jim McClelland Jr. and Eric Workman saw an opportunity.

The company they work for, Mack Companies, which is run by McLelland’s father—who’s also named Jim—has built a south-suburban empire of more than 500 rental homes made from cleaned-up foreclosures. Since I wrote about the venture in 2010, Mack has become a role model for others catching on to the idea of converting foreclosures to rentals.

Now Workman, Mack’s vice president of sales, and Jim Jr., the COO, are pushing into a new realm: buying, fixing, and reselling high-end foreclosures. The Mack Estates division has sold four foreclosure rehabs since last fall, and it has an inventory of ten for sale now. Their prices start at $210,000 and are mostly in the $300,000s, with one in New Lenox and this one in Tinley both well over $1 million.

Click through the photo tour below for more on Walker’s former home.

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