Denver Suburbs vs Chicago Suburbs

[Katie Fiola Jones]

Hey everyone, 

I'm currently looking into buying my first house. But I wanted to get some advice before making any big decisions. 

I currently live in Denver and have for over 4 years. I have just started looking at homes to purchase out here, but can't seem to find anything that I would personally like to live in that is within my budget. Everything is either very small or in pretty bad condition. My idea would be to buy a property with at least 2 bedrooms and house hack for a while. 

But here is the other option:

My long term plans would be to move back to the Midwest (western suburbs of Chicago) to be close to family. I'd like to dive deeper into real estate investing at this time, since this is where I plan to plant roots. However, moving out there probably won't be for about 2 years. I am not very up to date with the market back home in Illinois, but I do know that compared to Denver things are a bit cheaper and your money can stretch a lot farther. 

So do I buy in Denver which is a very expensive market right now, or save the money to purchase something in Illinois in a couple of years? 

I'd love to get some opinions! Thanks