First-time Chicago investor interested in BRRRR NW Indiana market

[Jack Plantin]

Hello everybody, I am a union construction worker currently renting and living in Chicago. Was originally planning on purchasing and occupying a duplex in the city with a 3.5% FHA loan, but my wife and I were not willing to sacrifice commute and lifestyle (lived in a basement, not willing to do it again) to house-hack, so we ended up signing an apartment lease for another year.

After receiving some inspiration and anecdotes from coworkers recently, I've recently become interested in buying, rehabbing and renting out a SFR in NW Indiana or SW suburbs around Joliet, IL.

Our financial situation is pretty solid. 6k combined monthly income and 2.5k monthly expenses. Wife has a 700 credit score and I have a 650 credit score with no debts besides an auto loan that is being paid off with Turo. I have around 18k cash saved up, with another 4-5k in stocks that I'm willing to cash out if necessary. I have a couple potential partners willing to help finance a good deal if there is profit to be made. We would be looking at properties around 80-120k to minimize financial risk if the property remains vacant for longer than we expect.

I have a couple questions for now:

1. How is the rental market in NW Indiana or SW suburbs?

2. Am I likely to find any good deals just on Trulia, Zillow, MLS, etc. or should I look for foreclosures/short sales/under-contract to make the numbers work?

3. What kind of partnership is standard when taking outside investors money for BRRRR? 50/50 on rental profits or a 10-12% hard-money loan?

Regards,

Jack

[Jack Plantin]

Originally posted by @Adrien C.:

1- rental market is HOT in NW Indiana. But it's hard to elaborate beyond that because we have so many difference areas- ghetto Gary all the way up to A- communities. Each have different pros/cons and depend on what your goals are. 

2- The MLS has decent deals for rentals still in some markets. Hard to find something to flip off the MLS though. I'd encourage you to put together a team out here (contractor, agent, wholesaler, property manager, etc) so when you see something, you can act fairly fast.

3- depends on what your partner wants. Thousands of ways to put together a JV.

 Thanks Adrien for the response. I'm glad to hear I can get into this market from the comfort of Chicago. I spoke with a realtor last night (Chuck from quadwalls.com) whose opinions mirrored yours pretty closely. I will continue looking at deals in Griffith/Highland and continue saving for when the right property pops up.