Newbie In Chicago

[Andy Rouvalis]

Hello Bigger Pockets Community. My name is Andy Rouvalis and I have lived in Chicago for the past 7 years – originally from Boston. Own a condo that I also live in, located in the Printers Row neighborhood.

I have always been interested in Real Estate and Investing and as I am in the midst of a career change the time seems right to dive in. The company I most recently worked for got sold so with the parting severance package I have a bit of flexibility in taking some time to find the right fit. I have a solid sales and marketing background along with project management experience.

I am primarily interested in Buy and Hold and/or Fix and Flip. Any thoughts on what RE careers would be most helpful for this type of path? Real Estate Broker? Mortgage Broker? Appraiser? I figure I will bang out the Leasing course and license now as that seems to be a pretty quick and fairly inexpensive process in Illinois. Any suggestions for companies that provide quality Leasing (and Broker) Courses in Chicago?

Any input or suggestions for a newbie are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time!

Andy