New Chicago member intro

[Garfield M.]

Hello, I am a new member here but a long time reader of the forum here and listener of BIggerPockets podcast. I've learned and taken advantage of many of the things I have learned on this website. 

I am 31 years old, born and raised on the Southwest side and started with my first purchase of real estate in North Kenwood/Bronzeville area in 2014, a 3 bed 2 bath condo. I have since sold this condo in 2019 when i decided to move in with my fiance at her condo in west Logan Square. 

In 2021 my wife and I bought a 2 flat with nonconforming basement in McKinley Park. In 2022 my wife and i bought another 3 flat in McKinley Park. I self manage.

I am contributing here to share my experience and help others. I have good knowledge of Chicago neighborhoods, especially on the Southside. I enjoy following demographic trends and determining what they mean for the future of neighborhoods. I am an avid cyclist and consider this the best way to examine neighborhoods as you can make better observations than in the car and cover more ground than on foot. I have covered alot of ground over the years and and am very familiar with various pockets ofthe city. I do not work in real estate, I am just here to learn and share. In the future, I plan to learn more about 5+ unit properties and see if it is right for me.

As a property investor I would consider myself a buy and hold investor. If I am going to buy something I ask myself what it would look like on a 5-20 year time frame. Any less time wouldn't make financial sense and anything more is too hard to reasonably predict. I am interested in buying in neighborhoods that have a better than average potential rate of appreciation. I am only interested in investing in the city of Chicago. 

If you think I can be of value to you, please reach out and I can share my perspective and opinion.

Disclaimer: this is not my real name, I am preventing any potential conflict of interest with my employer.