Chicago Garden Units and General Market Questions

[Joshua Branovsky]

Hello BP, first time posting here. I will be moving to the north side of Chicago this summer around the Evanston area and want to buy my first investment property (I have tons of questions). My plan is to house hack using my VA home loan, I don't realistically see me getting cash flow while in the property and I'm fine with that.

1. I see a lot of these non-legal garden units that are finished. Does anyone know how these work regarding owner occupy, making them legal, whether my lender will allow me to live in it, and any other information about them?

2. Does anyone have any advice for the Chicago market in general?

3. Is my house hacking strategy a viable option? I will attach an example property I'm looking at in the area that has a non-legal garden unit. Although, it is probably a little out of my price range (400k-450k) 

https://www.zillow.com/homedet...

Any and all questions/comments/concerns welcome!

[Russell W.]

First of all, welcome to the forums! You're going to find a wealth of knowledge here to answer whatever questions you might have. My first purchase had a non-conforming garden unit, which I lived in after closing. With a garden unit, many times what the lender will do is require that the gas stove is removed from that apartment during their appraisal, so that the apartment is not considered a livable space. Sellers typically know this and play along, and after closing what you choose to do with the "non-livable space" (live in it) is up to you. 

Regarding the market in general, there continues to be strong demand for rentals given how hot/competitive the housing market has been. Are you looking to invest specifically in Evanston or are you looking in Chicago as well?

House hacking is not only a viable option, but in my opinion it is the best option for getting started. Regardless if you cash flow or not (though hopefully you do) it's going to not only accelerate your ability to save money for a future purchase or renovations, but it also gives you on-the-job training of being a landlord. It's not something you have to do forever, but in the long run it is absolutely worth it. Feel free to PM me if you ever have questions.