Max Painter is more than just an electrician. He’s a runner, an Army veteran, a family man, and for the past 18 years, a business owner.

Painter is the owner of MX Electric. He opened the business 18 years ago.

“We were so small at the beginning I just ran the office out of my house,” Painter said.

“The last three years we’ve moved into some bigger buildings, but we’ve always rented.”

Over the past 18 years, he has rented office space and storage space in Champaign but now, MX Electric has a permanent place to call home in Ogden. 

“This building came available, and I said ‘I don’t think it works for me because most of our work is in Champaign’ but then I saw the building and I fell in love with it and I was like ‘I think we’re moving to Ogden!”

Painter grew up in Villa Grove, but for the last 18 years he has been a St. Joseph resident.  He’s excited for a shorter commute to work.

“It’ll be a lot more convenient for me to be able to stay late and work on stuff.”

Painter is renovating the building before moving in. The front area will be offices for him and a few staff members.

The new building is visible from 150 in Ogden and he has already noticed an uptick in interest even though they are not officially moved in there yet. 

“This gets a lot of foot traffic, and people will walk right in. I bet we’ve had 10 people just walk in the door.”

According to Painter, MX Electric does a mix of commercial and residential work. 

Over the last 18 years, the number of employees and the volume of work has ebbed and flowed. 

Painter says he landed a big project at the beginning and it led to quick, but misleading growth.

“I started too big, and I probably had ten employees when I first started.”

“The money was just not there, and I was union at the time and what I was paying my guys- I’m sure I did not make a dime but I felt like I was making a lot of money.” 

“I actually got a pretty big head. I just drove around and didn’t hardly do any work anymore.” 

Painter says the recession was a wake-up call for him.

“Then the recession hit and it about wiped me out. I almost didn’t come back. I’m just lucky I’ve got good friends and good family that helped me out.”

“A lot of people went through a reevaluation at the point. I had to get back to pushing quality at that time.”

MX Electric stayed in business, just with a smaller staff.

“It was just basically me and my brother-in-law and a few other guys for a long time.”

As projects come and go, the number of employees changes but Painter says there have a few core guys who stick around. 

One of those people is his brother-in-law. Painter feels lucky to have someone beside him who treats the business as his own.

“My brother in law has been with me for probably 12 of the 18 years and he is just fantastic.”

Painter enjoys the residential projects just as much as the commercial. 

“We don’t want to completely give up residential. Commercial will come and go with the economy but residential will always be around.”

Painter delegates the commercial bidding to another employee who is skilled at it, but he does a lot of the residential bidding himself.

“We still stay pretty busy with residential. I like meeting new people, I think it’s fantastic.”

“I do a lot of the go out and estimate residential. You just never know who you’re gonna meet.”

The main thing that Painter and his guys try to keep in mind each day is quality.

“Our big thing is quality and cleanup and customer satisfaction.”

 “Electricity is one of those things that you want to feel safe, and if you don’t, we want to make it right.”

“I try to push to my guys to do it right the first time and then we won’t have to go back.”

Painter values customer satisfaction, and he knows the value of local connections and good word-of-mouth. 

“Make good connections, align yourself with the right people.”

He tries to be responsive on community Facebook pages when people are looking for a recommendation for an electrician, or when others recommend him themselves.

“There’s two or three ‘Call Max’ people, and if I see it or get tagged, I’ll respond and ask what we can do to help out.”

Painter has learned a lot in the last 18 years, and he continues to learn.

“I learn something every day, truthfully. A lot of them are hard lessons to learn.”

“I’ve been in business long enough that I know that nothing is a guarantee.”

Painter knows that continued success comes from pushing quality and making sure customers are satisfied. 

“I want you happy. If you’re not happy, we’re not done.”

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Residential home sales weakened in July in the Champaign County area while the median home sale price rose 2.62 percent, according to the Champaign County Association of REALTORS®. As lower mortgage rates are prompting more buyers to enter the market, it’s putting pressure on the already tight inventory. The total number of homes sold in Champaign County decreased 12.15 percent in July of 2018 with 282 homes sold, compared to 321 homes sold in July of 2019. The year-to-date total number of homes sales are down slightly to 1,654 sales, off 8.52 percent from 1,808 homes sold through July a year ago.

For the month of July 2019, the median home sale price (for all single-family homes and condominiums) was $156,400, up 2.62 percent from $152,000 in July 2018. The average home sale price stood at $177,056, down 0.13 percent from $177,287 last July.

Pending home sales showed a modest gain. There were 226 pending sales in July, up 6.1 percent from 213 a year ago. Pending sales for the month of July reflect the total number of active listings that went under contract and are awaiting closing, usually 30 to 60 days in the future.

“With mortgage rates at near historic lows and nearly a full percentage point lower than they were last year at this time, this certainly is an attractive incentive for homebuyers,” said Eric Porter, president of the Champaign County Association of REALTORS®. “Low mortgage rates and a thriving labor market should help to boost the housing market in the latter half of this year, given that the economy does not incur a significant slowdown.”

The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage for the month of July was 3.76 percent according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, down from 4.52 percent in July 2018 and down from 3.80 percent in June of 2019. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.60 percent for the week ending August 15, 2019, unchanged from the previous week.

“Even while we have experienced a softer housing market so far this year, we are seeing prices continue to gain traction.” said Porter. “Historic low rates may entice more buyers to enter the market but flat inventory growth is impeding significant sales growth. Some would-be sellers are simply hesitating from moving forward during this peak buying season even while this does present an ideal opportunity for home sales.”

Inventory of homes for sale declined 4.5 percent in July to 868 homes from 909 homes in July of 2018.

The Illinois Housing Development Authority has launched a new, limited-time grant to help homebuyers across Illinois afford their closing costs. Through the new IHDA Advantage Subsidy program, IHDA will give eligible homeowners who meet income requirements an outright grant of either $1,500 or $2,500 depending on household income to pay for closing costs associated with their home purchase. The grant can be layered with IHDA’s current Down Payment Assistance (DPA) programs, allowing homebuyers to receive anywhere from $8,500 to $12,500 in assistance when purchasing a home. In 2018, IHDA was able to help 5,500 people buy a home through two DPA programs: 1stHome Mortgage and Access Mortgage. Visit www.ihdamortgage.org to learn more.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS®, reports June’s contract signings indicate that buyers are both enthusiastic about the market and of the potential wealth gain, but he added that home builders need to increase inventory. “Homes are selling at a breakneck pace, in less than a month, on average, for existing homes and three months to newly constructed homes,” he said. “Furthermore, homeowners’ equity in real estate has doubled over the past six years to now nearly $16 trillion. But the number of potential buyers exceeds the number of homes available. We need to see sizeable growth in inventory, particularly of entry-level homes, to ensure wider access to homeownership.”

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