Rob Calvin

Rob Calvin is a real estate agent with @properties. He’s concerned about how the proposed “mansion tax” will impact Chicago’s housing market, hurting properties well below the $1 million price point Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is targeting through a ballot question.

“I was watching [the city council] on Oct. 4 when they got into the meat and potatoes of this policy. Ironically, there is no meat. There are no potatoes. If you go to the ‘Bring Chicago Home’ website, there’s a one-pager and that’s it.”

“This year there was $52 million set out for about five different areas impacting the homeless population in Chicagoland. Only 20% of that as of the end of August had been used for the year. So this is not a cash problem.”

“You are going to have to tell us what that goes towards because the optics and the math of what we already contribute is being ignored.”

“Politicians can change the language by calling it a ‘mansion tax,’ or saying only 4% of buyers will be affected. That’s only looking at residential buyers, by the way. That hyperbolic language doesn’t honor the situation we have, nor is it driven toward solutions.”

“I’m not a commercial broker. I know that my [commercial] colleagues will be impacted more. We already struggle as a city with commercial real estate vacancies. Are we going to lose mom-and-pop shops because they can’t afford these nominal fees and taxes? And what big companies are going to focus here anymore with all these things that haven’t been addressed, like crime?”

“We have a rental shortage in this city. 52% of the city are renters. They’re already outbidding each other for these limited places. This is not going to incentivize people to develop or build out more rental opportunities.”

“At the same time, more people will be demanding rentals as fewer people buy. We’ve already seen waves of individuals leaving the city to go to suburban areas where they’re not going to see such crazy tax hikes and changes.”

“This is really just following along with things that other city administrations have done, to stand on their shoulders as far as optics are concerned and win over voters. But we’re not New York. We’re not Los Angeles. We don’t have big investments in R&D like San Francisco. We’re a breadbasket, Midwestern city. We’re commodities driven.”

“Another concern is that real estate is almost guaranteed to appreciate. That 4% of residential transfers they talk about now will only grow over time, especially with inflation.”

“Most cities don’t have any transfer tax, so this is already something that buyers really challenge us on as realtors. Sometimes our lenders and title organizations even ask, ‘What the heck is this in the first place?’”

“I’ve taken it upon myself to follow this issue, not just because of my buyers and sellers, but just because as a born and raised Chicagoland kid, it’s really important to me. You can’t keep changing things so drastically every four to six years because it serves certain organizations or unions.”

Rob Calvin
Real estate agent, @properties
Chicago, Illinois