Chicago House Hack - New Investor

[Michael Fortier]

Hi All,

I just recently relocated to the Chicago area for work and will be here for the foreseeable future. I've been interested in real estate for many years now but due to my constant relocation never fully took the leap. I'm now at a point where I'm done sitting on the sideline and intend to purchase a house hack in the Chicagoland area, minimize living expenses, and open some more money up to additional real estate investments.

Ideally I would like a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom duplex or triplex right around the $400,000 price point, but I have flexibility if the right opportunity presented itself. My biggest hangup at the moment is not knowing each of Chicago's many neighborhoods and suburbs and I'm hoping the BiggerPockets community can provide some insight here.

Being new to the area and starting the process of getting into REI I would love some insight from some local investors, agents, etc. on the current market for small multifamily and the areas that would make most sense given my criteria. Cant wait to make some connections here guys and get this thing going so thanks in advance!