Newbie/Accidental Landlord in West Suburbs of Chicago

[Nick O.]

Hello everyone, my name is Nick.  I live about 50 miles west of Chicago in Yorkville, IL.  I've come to Bigger Pockets to meet some new people and learn more about real estate investing, specifically finding buy and hold deals and financing strategies.

In June of this year it will be 4 years since my wife and I rented out our first primary residence in Aurora, IL to buy a new home for our growing family. We bought that house in 2006, so as you can imagine, we are still underwater where LTV is concerned and our monthly NET is at a break even point. Since I thought you had to have pile of cash to buy real estate, I never really considered it an option, even though its something that has always interested me. Things really changed when I started picking up books and found this site. We have a sizable amount of equity in the home we live in and I also have an annuity account set up through my work that I can borrow against. Based on what I've gathered so far, it looks like this should get me started. Now, where are people buying rental properties around here? And, how do you "grade" a neighborhood? I see a lot of talk about A, B, C, or D neighborhoods, but how do you reach that conclusion? Thanks for reading, I look forward beginning this journey with your help, and in return hope that I can work with or help some of you in the future!

[Account Closed]

@Nick O. re your question on how to grade neighborhoods/areas, below is a chart from @Wendell De Guzman that I think does a nice job summarizing how he thinks about neighborhoods/area grades.