New Investor from Chicago, IL!

[Hansel Sjukur]

Hello all!

Excited to be part of the BiggerPockets community. I'm 24 looking to invest in multi-family units in the Chicagoland area. Currently paying $1000 in the Western Suburbs. Managed to secure a pre-approval that can allow me to purchase up to 350k with 25% down payment. Goal for this first property is to primarily generate cash-flow, and secondarily for its appreciation -- whether forced or by the market. Some thoughts that are still in mind:

• Should I consider pure investment properties vs trying out house-hacking?
• What to look out for in determining potential neighborhoods (I am not local to the area and is curious on how "hot" neighborhoods started out and what signs to look out for)
• How bad can a bad investment be? Especially financially?

My 5-year goal is to generate an equal passive income as my current working income. Open to explore out-of-state investing (learnings so far have been theoretical from David Greene's book) once comfortable enough in the REI scene.

I hope to get more connected to the community and learn from everyone! Cheers!