Multi family in Chicago area

[Jeff Morrison]

We are looking to get started in small multifamily buildings, ie duplex, triplex, quad. We live in the NW suburbs of Chicago and it seems like the most affordable ones are in the Elgin area, Aurora or in the city. Elgin would be the closest to where I live. All 3 areas they usually are 100+ year old properties. Other than the obvious of older plumbing, electrical, what else should I look out for? Are these buildings still worth the investment? We also own a condo and a single family house that are both rented out.

[Crystal Smith]

Originally posted by @Jeff Morrison:

We are looking to get started in small multifamily buildings, ie duplex, triplex, quad. We live in the NW suburbs of Chicago and it seems like the most affordable ones are in the Elgin area, Aurora or in the city. Elgin would be the closest to where I live. All 3 areas they usually are 100+ year old properties. Other than the obvious of older plumbing, electrical, what else should I look out for? Are these buildings still worth the investment? We also own a condo and a single family house that are both rented out.

Any 100+ year old building has to be evaluated on a case by case basis. It's impossible to make a blanket statement on whether a building is still worth the investment. It all depends on acquisition price versus what may or may not need updating; the After Repair Value and then the cash flow you'll receive.   

With that said if you want a macro analysis of those area- The median sold price in North Aurora and Elgin have gone up over 14% over the past year. For Aurora/Eola the Median Price has gone up over 21%. Find the data at the following link:  Median Price Multifamily Aurora Elgin