Bad idea to buy very cheap property in Chicago?

[Bel Roma]

I'm interested in investing in real estate but I've yet to purchase my first property. I've seen a lot of real estate at low prices in the Chicagoland area. I'm assuming it's because these properties are in areas with high rates of crime. I'd love to read advice from anyone here who has invested in that kind of thing. Would you advise against it? Is the low price of admission not worth it in the long run because of the risk of being killed while remodeling or living in one of the properties? 

[Crystal Smith]

Originally posted by @Bel Roma:

I'd love to read advice from anyone here who has invested in that kind of thing. Would you advise against it? Is the low price of admission not worth it in the long run because of the risk of being killed while remodeling or living in one of the properties? 

 I'm going to assume that when you say cheap it means less than $100K or even less than $50K.  Don't automatically assume that when a property is cheap it's a bad investment or it's in a high crime area.    About the only assumption, you can make on a property that's cheap is you'll have to spend $ on a renovation.  This is overused saying but crime in Chicagoland area is a block by block issue.   Process wise you should do the following:

• Use the Trulia color-coded crime map to check on your property of interest.  It's quick & easy.  You can also use google maps to check the location;  i.e. is it on a busy street or not
• If the property is located in a low crime block then determine the After Repair Value of the property depending on whether you want to hold it for a rental or flip it.  
• If the numbers look potentially good then you'll have to decide whether to take a look @ the property & determine how much $ are required to renovate

After you run analysis on enough properties & become familiar w/ the different parts of Chicago you'll eventually know when to pull the trigger on a "cheap" property.