The Accidental Investor from Chicago

[Philip Nowak]

Hi BiggerPockets Community, I'm Phil and I own 3 units (two condos and a single family home) in the Chicago area. I have a fair amount of experience in the real estate industry (see longer bio in my ), but consider myself a newbie buy and hold investor that's still learning the client side of the business. I always wanted to be a buy and hold real estate investor at some point in my life, but my journey truly happened by accident rather than strategic planning.

• Purchased condo unit from my neighbor in 2012 after walking by an open house sign and being shocked at the asking price; Rented it out and tenant has been there for 4 years
• Purchase single family home in the suburbs in 2013, planning to gut-rehab or tear down in the future as we build our family; Rented it out and are on the third tenant
• Rented out other primary residence condo and moved to townhome we're renting in the suburbs (Ironic, I know...) since baby was on the way. Two couples have been tenants so far.

Why I Joined BiggerPockets

I joined BiggerPockets after continuously stumbling all over the place. I kept hearing about the site on other blogs/sites, search engine results, and interviews. I didn't know what the site was at first, but joined anyway. I was then hooked by the email newsletter and have been obsessed with the podcasts, blog posts, and feature forums. 

My Real Estate Goals

I would like to continue to learn about buy and hold real estate investing. Short term, I would like to expand my portfolio with a duplex, triplex, or fourplex. Long-term, I would like to buy larger multi-family buildings and eventually apartment complexes. For now, I am investing locally, but am open to other markets in the future as I do more research and gain more experience.

Who Am I Looking For

I'm currently seeking to build my network of real estate, skilled services, and construction professionals, particularly other investors, financiers, property managers, handymen, painters, HVAC specialists, and appliance repair technicians.

Look forward to meeting all of you! Feel free to connect here on BP or LinkedIn. 

-Phil