New Real Estate Investor - Looking for some feedback / assistance

[David Klaas]

Hello,

I am a new MBA looking to complete my first investment property transaction. I am pre-approved for conventional financing and would like to start with an owner occupied Multi-Family unit in Chicago with as little down as possible (3.5 or 5%) in a property that cash flows at least $500 per unit. I would like to find a property to potentially improve and am leaning towards a good location like Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Logan, or West Town. I would like to focus on large rents for cash flow but also max my leverage and get an asset in the 800-900k range for potential buy and hold. I'm a little hung up on where to find a good value. MLS is retail and there are some attractive properties there but I would like to find a 3 or 4 flat at a discount somewhere. Also, I would like to buy this first property with the second in mind and try to set up an equity scenario that I could use to make my second purchase. Additionally, I would like to play the owner occupied game a few times to acquire properties without large down payment requirements. So, here are my questions:

- Is MLS acceptable for finding my first investment property?

- 810k is max financing on 4 flat for non jumbo as I don't have more than 20% to put down.  Where could I find additional funds over the 810k if I wanted something a little more?

- Where should I look for a GREAT value to hit a home run on this first transaction?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!!