New Member from Chicago Suburbs

[John J.]

Hello, my name is John P. Juska, and I have always had the desire to get into real estate investing. I earned a bachelor's degree in construction management, and currently work in that position for a production home builder. I have the knowledge, but the financing part, as I'm sure is the case with a lot of college grads in the past decade, has been the main thing holding me back from jumping into the REI world. I have taken great strides in improving my credit recently, and have also looked into what it will cost to start up a LLC. My current plan for my first investment is to find a great deal on a two or three flat, then purchase it with a FHA or 203K loan for the smaller down payment and live in one of the units. My main issue in doing this is the knowledge to discover/recognize what a great deal would be. However, after enough seasoning, I would then refinance the property after raising the value with improvements. Using the difference in loan amout along with income from renting, I plan to obtain finaning on a fixer upper to flip or another rental. As anyone would, I would greatly appreciate any guidance in starting up and recognizing great deals from those with more experience than I.