New resident physician looking to househack in Chicago

[Richard Young]

Hi all,

I will be starting my anesthesiology residency program in Chicago this July and am interested in househacking. My significant other and I will be first-time investors and we're hoping to connect with anyone who has experience working with new resident physicians looking to start their real estate journey. For context, my girlfriend makes significantly more than I do and is not in the medical field. We are also certainly open to the idea of having both of our names on the house.

Criteria:

Property type: Duplex

Estimated purchase price: 400K-500K

Estimated down payment: 20K-50K

Desired areas: Humbolt Park, Logan Square, West Town, E. Garfield Park, Near West Side, West Loop

Other questions:

- What are some benefits/drawbacks of utilizing a physician loan versus an FHA loan or conventional loan with PMI?

- Sort of a loaded question, but is it practical for us to househack in these desired areas while minimizing our mortgage payments with tenant mortgage paydown, or are we being unrealistic?

- Does anyone know of any agents/lenders in the Chicago area who are familiar with the process of working with new resident physicians, given our heavy student loan burden and lower income?

Any thoughts are welcome! (especially if you think our criteria are unreasonable)

Thank you!

Richard