Noob from Chicago Suburbs

[Austin Tondreau]

Hello Everyone! 

I am Austin, currently living in Naperville, IL. Currently working as a Product Manager/ Sales Engineer for a Heavy Duty Manufacturing Company out LA. I get to travel for work, and really enjoy my job. A few co-works of mine have rental properties and finally convinced me to get into the real estate business last fall. The overall goal is to provide passive income, to provide to my parents who will be retiring soon.. and then myself in the future. 

I am currently working on my business plan (about half way through it). My overall goal is to slowly start acquiring properties, rehabbing them, refinancing, and then finally renting them (similar to the BRRRR method, but I am living in them). The areas I am looking around is Chicago Suburbs/ Grand Rapids, MI/ Traverse City, MI (I am from Michigan). That being said, I am currently around $80,000 in student debt (worth it). So I believe the best thing I can do is pay off my student debt before really pursuing rental properties, as it frees up my debt-to-income ratio and frees up my expenses. To help pay off these loans faster, I recently have been looking into rehabbing and selling condos.

From my limited experience, condo's are often cheaper than houses, so barriers to entry are less. They're also typically less square footage, making it easier to rehab and less time consuming than a single family home. The Chicago-Land market is incredibly high right now, properties that need to be completely torn down are attempting to be sold for $200K+. Thought process is to purchase a condo for $70-80k, put around $10-$15k into rehab costs and then selling it for a profit of $5,000-$10,000 (ideally selling it for slightly less than other listed properties in the area). I am handy so the costs might be slightly lower. The downside to condo's would be less profit, and most likely longer lead time on selling the units. I don't believe they sell as fast as single family homes. Anyone have any other thoughts regarding this? 

My current Residence: 
Purchased my condo last September, and almost immediately starting rehabbing it. I will admit I didn't know what I was doing most of the time when I started projects, but I am fortunate enough to have help from my parents (and the internet). Over the past 10 months I have learned a ton, and its been a fun experience. 
Purchase Price: $160,000 ($152,000 after down payment) 
Renovation Costs: $8500 - $9000
Total capital invested: $17,000 (Renovations + Down payment)
Expected appraisal: $175,000 - $180,000 (Based off comps.)

Depending on what I rent the unit out for, It will take me around 7.15 - 10.65 years to regain the capital I have invested into the property (providing nothing breaks... luckily everything in the condo has been replaced within the past year). I have been going back and forth on a property management company as Im still new to this, and travel a lot for work.... That may cut into profits and add onto to my "years to regain capital invested" . Looking at the numbers I believe I used a little bit too much of my own money/ over improved the property. As the years to regain capital (7-10 years) seems slight high to me. Any recommendations/ Thoughts? 

(I gave up on attempting to post Before/ After pictures. Couldn't get anything to load) 

[John Warren]

@Austin Tondreau there is a lot to comment on above. For tax purposes, most rental property comes in as a paper loss due to depreciation. I would recommend reading up more on this or speaking to a CPA, but in your situation it is unlikely that one rental will do much to your taxes. 

As for Chicago pricing, Chicago is a primary MSA and is a lot more desirable to live in than most other areas of the midwest. For that reason, prices are high. The good news is that rents are higher too! In most parts of Indiana or Michigan you might rent out a 1 bedroom apartment for between 500-750 per month. In Chicago, that same apartment will rent for 850-1000. Obviously, sub markets matter and not every area of Chicago makes sense (just as not every area in Michigan makes sense). Just be careful thinking that the grass is greener on the other side... it probably isn't. 

Have you studied any of the low down payment options available to owner occupants? That is probably the best way to get started investing as long as you can live in one of the units. 

Finally, I have used property managers in the past and do so currently. I find them to be on average significantly worse at every aspect of managing real estate in comparison to how I run my rentals. With that being said, if you get into larger multifamily or commercial assets my understanding is that they really know the business at that point. In addition, larger assets come with on site staff that help control/normalize your maintenance costs. Your small, local PM is really hit or miss. I am sure there are great ones out there, but I haven't found one yet!