First Offer Accepted Today

[Derek Luttrell]

Hi Everyone, 

I am a 25 year old who has lived in Chicago for three years. Just today I had a seller accept my offer on a 3 bed/2 bath condo in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood. Listed for $370,000, and we settled on $350,000. 

I have two buddies lined up who will each pay $900/month to take the other bedrooms, and I will take the master and be paying about $350/month. My current living expenses are $1000/month including parking, and this condo includes two gated parking spots, so I could monetize those as well. I'm a cycling enthusiast, and it is a 10-minute bike ride to work, and the bus stop straight to my office is right outside the door. 

I know I'm in the early steps here, but I figured I would keep a thread going throughout this journey for other first-time buyers. My goal is to live here for 2-3 years, and either sell it or rent it out entirely for around $3200/month. Comps in the area right now go for $3,000/month. 

Sorry for the long post, but I'm excited to get this going and dip my toes into house-hacking and drastically lowering my living expenses. It is very to cool to be having other people pay my mortgage. Any words of wisdom for next steps are greatly appreciated.

[Bob B.]

@Derek 

Congrats.

I would question, why is the HOA so low?

Is the HOA solvent and does it have the funds to take care of the common areas?