New Chicago Investor

[Syed Lateef]

All,

I have been spending a lot of time lately on biggerpockets forums/podcasts lately. I believe i am ready to get my feet wet and start investing in Real Estate. I live in Chicago (northside)

Few comments:

1. I understand calculating ROI (my background is finance from DePaul)

2. I have about $50K cash in my savings 

3. i have friends that are willing to pool money together for a real estate property as long it is a good deal

My issue: Now  finding a property or a good deal. What is the best way to start? Can you guys recommend any real estate agents in Chicago that is investment savvy that can help me get my first deal?

[Julece Glaum]

Syed,

Its a pleasure to meet another DePaulian!  I would suggest you look around and see what areas you like in general.  You can start off looking for deals by doing a mailing. Look in the county records, cookcountyassessor.com and cookcountytreasurer.com to find Parcel Id Numbers or PIN's and look up tax records.  You can then see where tax bills are going.  That is how you can start asking if people want to sell,  that way you can work out deals sans a realtor.  I do use a broker and I can pass his name along to you if you want.  

When I started I found that I did a better job understanding  analyzing better when I worked out the deals myself that helped me get comfortable with numbers based on what I sought as a return.  Often brokers can give you leads but its up to you to find the deals that work.  Hope this helps.