John F. Kennedy once said: “Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try!” Charlotte A. Uhlik graduated high school, married and started a family life, was a wife, is a mother of four adult children (one daughter and three sons), and nana to four grandchildren and four grandpuppies. Ms. Uhlik began investing in properties when she separated from her husband of 34 years in 2019. She could have accepted the situation dealt her, but she decided to try something completely out of her comfort zone. Now, Ms. Uhlik owns rental properties and invests in commercial properties including multi-family dwellings, shopping malls, tourist areas, etc. throughout the country. Continue to read her story of how the “decision to try” became a life lesson.
Ms. Uhlik, her husband, and her children moved multiple times while their children were growing up. Ms. Uhlik and her family found themselves laying roots down in Iowa in 1999. While raising children in Iowa, Ms. Uhlik enjoyed a career in education as an elementary school librarian. She held this role for 15 years. This was followed by two years as an English-speaking classroom associate for a Spanish Immersion School. These two roles helped her cultivate significant research skills, which she credits as a major driving force for striving to learn while embarking on new adventures in her life, along with cultivating personal and professional growth. Ms. Uhlik retired from the school system, then she volunteered at an inner-city preschool in the community where she resides.
In 2013, Ms. Uhlik and her business partner, her husband of 34 years, bought their first rental property as a secure place for their adult children to live. Their sons, their sons’ friends, and their daughter all rented this property at some time or another, before eventually moving out on their own. For her excellence with this property, Ms. Uhlik and her business partner were presented with the Ken Kringle Historic Preservation Award in 2015. They received the award for upgrading this downtown property and neighborhood beautification.
Ms. Uhlik and her husband separated in 2019. They continue to remain business partners. The first non-family tenant, following her children moving out, was a young woman recently released from prison looking for someone to give her a “second chance.” The young woman was a model tenant, and Ms. Uhlik is proud that she was able to help her get back on her feet.
When this tenant moved on with her life, the property was then rented by a mother with three children who were passing through the community. The family saw the property, contacted Ms. Uhlik, and rented the property at their first interview meeting. It’s protocol with this property for Ms. Uhlik, property manager and co-owner of this property, to informally meet with potential tenants. Ms. Uhlik assists these tenants with learning about budgeting and bill paying or directs them to other agencies if she cannot help them herself.
The business grew rapidly from there. Beginning in 2019, she and her business partner established DC Legacy Properties LLC, an umbrella company that encompasses the other business entities which form their Passive Income Investment Firm. Ms. Uhlik owns other rental properties out-of-state and invests in commercial properties throughout the country. She is responsible for keeping the business entities for herself and her business partner compliant with state, local and federal laws. These responsibilities include taking care of accounting for both her and her partner’s commercial investments, as well as the rental properties, along with being the property manager for the rental property in the community she lives in.
Ms. Uhlik has tried to collaborate with a home for single mothers. The goal was to help single mothers find stability to raise their children. While collaborating the property was rented. Ironically, Ms. Uhlik’s current tenant is a single mother with three children, not through the home for single mothers, but Ms. Uhlik still offered a single mother and her family a home.
Ms. Uhlik operates on the principle that her obligation is to upkeep the premises to above standard conditions. She cares deeply about her tenants and is known to go out of her way to personally assist them when issues arise. One situation she recalls was when an out-of-state rental property tenant’s refrigerator stopped working. Knowing that her tenant had medication that required refrigeration, Ms. Uhlik had the out-of-state property manager purchase a new refrigerator and had the property manager’s maintenance technician install it that day.
Throughout Ms. Uhlik’s career, she has remained motivated through her desire to support her tenants and traces that all back to the very first property that she rented out as a “second chance home,” noting that it gave her an incredible sense of purpose because she was doing something that made an impact in the lives of others. Ms. Uhlik has adopted the rule of thumb: If the tenants are happy where they live, they will take care of the property, and if she takes care of the property’s upkeep and repairs, then the property will take care of the tenant.
Ms. Uhlik’s favorite part of her career is helping others and being able to give someone in need a place to live where they will be secure and not have to worry. Additionally, she finds learning new things to be particularly gratifying. She approaches all new experiences with an open mind. Standing out in her field for her emphasis on continued learning and researching, she also attributes some of her success to her ex-husband and current business partner. He is a businessman with over 40 years of experience running multi-million-dollar companies, who taught her about business practices. Ms. Uhlik added that her business endeavors must be done with the utmost integrity.
While she never expected a career in real estate, Ms. Uhlik has made a name for herself through her expertise in passive investments, rental properties, and commercial investments throughout the country. In order to keep abreast of new developments in her field, she maintains professional affiliation with successful people in the real estate field, as well as investing through trustworthy and proven affiliates throughout the country. Looking toward the future, Ms. Uhlik plans to continue growing in knowledge and ability of real estate investing. This growth involves adding more rental properties, multi-family dwellings, and more commercial investments, as well as to start flipping houses and becoming involved in efforts to improve living conditions for people in the inner cities. Ms. Uhlik embraces the words of John F Kennedy, “Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.”