New Member from Downers Grove, Illinois

[Dan Cecchin]

Hi BP members!

My name is Dan and I live in Downers Grove, IL (west suburb of Chicago).  I am 27, and have been interested in buy and hold rental property investing ever since taking a college course dedicated to the topic.  I came across Brandon Turner's book "The Book on Rental Property Investing", and after all the references in the book, thought I'd check out the site.  I've been following different threads over the past few weeks, and after just seeing a post for a meet-up happening in my area soon, I thought it was finally time for a first post.

I do not/have not ever owned a rental property, although my wife and I were very close to keeping and renting out our condo in downtown Downers Grove a few months ago after buying our new house nearby.  We had a tenant lined up, but ended up selling to an investor as the numbers vs. purchase price (up significantly since we bought in early 2013) weren't quite where I wanted them to be.

I don't ever plan to use real estate to replace my job, but rather as another source to enhance savings and retirement returns.  I'm pretty comfortable with the financial side (analyzing a deal, understanding tax impacts, etc), but less so on actually running the day to day (and am not handy at all) - though I have many questions on everything. After focusing my time on some personal/career milestones over the past few years, building some savings, and re-sparking my interest with Brandon's book, I'm finally taking another serious look at an investment soon.

I'm glad I came across the site and look forward to learning more from everyone!