First Time Home Buyer Looking to Network in Chicago!

[Ben Torres]

Hey BiggerPockets community! A new job opportunity has me heading over to Chicago and I’m itching to finally jump into my first house. I’ve been looking around the forums to start gathering some info on the area and would really like to connect with investors and agents here to gain more insight on the area.

I’m a Cardiac ICU RN from New York City that will be coming here to work at a heart transplant floor at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Streeterville. While the future salary from this job will work for my buy box, my current income at the moment comes from a travel nurse contract in California. I’ve heard from other nurses I’ve worked with that this sometimes presents issues with lenders when trying to get approved. If anyone is familiar with lenders that might understand my unorthodox income situation I would appreciate it!

Ideally, my goal would be to house hack or BRRRR a two-flat/ three-flat that's no more than a 30 min drive to Streeterville. I've seen Garfield Park and Cicero mentioned a few times here and those areas definitely look appealing to me.


Aside from real estate, if anyone has recommendations on pizza places to try please don’t hesitate to tell me! Looking forward to hearing back from everyone!