New to RE Investing, starting out in Chicago

[Colin Lubinski]

Hey everyone! I am new to this site and even newer in RE investing. Investing in real estate is something that has caught my eye for a long time, but I never had actually put any real thought into it until recently. I was invited to one of those "guru" seminars by one of my friends, and after I attended I decided to take a closer look myself into just how much I could learn on my own. Wow! What an endless realm of information there is available through books, blogs, websites, etc! Within a short time I am amazed at how much knowledge and information I have amassed on every aspect and facet of investing. I only wish I would have taken the plunge and started educating myself much sooner. I am 25 years old, recently divorced, recently broke through that divorce(marriage is a terrible investment :) ) and ready for something new and exciting. I live in Chicago, and being a city guy I am interested in starting out by investing in smaller multi family dwellings (2, 3, 4 flats) doing minor rehab/repair work, maximizing rent potential, minimizing maintenance costs by managing the buildings and tenants myself, and holding on to them for a while and see what I can make of it. Possibly selling in the future to start investing in some apartment buildings? I don't really have any interest in investing in single family homes and I know exactly what I want to gain from this experience. I just want to know if there is anyone out there in the Chicago area who specializes in this area and could possibly offer some mentoring advice for a guy just starting out? My main questions include how exactly to go about securing financing when you have poor credit/ no working capital. I plan on attending the ext available REIC meetings scheduled in my area to hopefully meet a few like minded individuals with more experience/knowledge. 2nd, for example, lets say I want to buy a 3 unit building and live in one of the units myself. I am a little confused on the difference in terms of how to go about financing/contracting as opposed to taking over the building and renting all three units? Like I said, I'm new to this and am trying to learn as much as I can but just am not sure how to actually jump into the first deal and take the big plunge. Any feedback is appreciated thank you!