Condo as my first investment property in the Chicago suburban market ?

[Nicholas R Foster]

Hello BP Family!!!

I am 24 years old and am currently at the point financially to where I can get started on pursuing my first investment property. I’ve recently gotten pre approved for a MPP of $200,000, my initial goal has always been to find/house hack an 2-3 multi family unit property in either the near western suburbs or dupage county with the goal being of cash flow & appreciation throughout my buy & hold period. So far it has been difficult to find a multi unit for the adequate price, due to the demand and supply. The prices have been out of my range, and haven't met my criteria regarding profitability.

As being a beginner investor I wanted to reach out to you guys and hear some feedback on this. Lately with everything I've recently mentioned I have now been leaning towards considering purchasing/house hacking my first investment in a condominium. With the goal of it being a 2 bedroom, 1 bath, I can take on a roommate and reduce my mortgage payment while I am there (or just rent out both units) and also help me save for my next down payment. To where I will eventually move out and make the initial condo my first investment. I think with how the market is currently this is not a bad route to get skin in the game and I could also use the equity I may build from the property to trade up to properties with more units and a value down the line. I've been recently looking at some condos in the near western suburbs, northwest cook county and dupage county of Chicago (I've found so far that a lot of condos in Dupage do not allow owners to rent /: ). From what I've read and heard in the Bigger Pockets community, condos have pros and cons. Mostly cons from what I've seen so far from rental restrictions; there are rental caps where only like 25% of the building can be rented out to the high HOA fees.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this as it would help me tremendously with my investment journey. Would you say a condo would be a good first investment in the current Chicago market right now ? Or should I continue to save, be patient and look for multi-family properties ?

[Bob S.]

i'm in the chicagoland area as well debating our first purchase. i personally am shying away from any unit that has an HOA attached to it due to the restrictions. restrictions can also change over time, etc... so i'm aiming towards a MF or SFH...

i'll give you a shout to connect as well so we can brainstorm!