New Investor from Chicago area

[Nathan Fernandez]

My name is Nathan Fernandez and I am looking to generate passive income and grow my net worth using real estate. My wife and I live in the west suburbs (Westchester) and I currently work in downtown Chicago in the sourcing / contract negotiations / operations function. I've new to real estate in general, but have been reading the BiggerPockets books and listening to the podcasts for about a year.

My wife and I are both ready to jump into real estate and we have been saving aggressively for a down payment. We are looking to invest out of state due to the high cost of real estate in our area. I have been looking for deals that cash flow, and have not had much luck! 

We are looking to get more involved in the local RE community and will be searching for some local meetups to network and maybe find a potential partner (if there is value for both parties). I am interested to see how/where people in my area are finding deals.

Our ideal situation would be to BRRRR using cash/hard money to purchase and refinance after we rehab and get it rented out. However, to get over the hurdle of saving enough money for the purchase and renovation we are looking to put 20% down on a SFR or duplex in an appreciating area that will cash flow ~$100-$200 a month after all expenses. This will get us started and allow us to understand real estate by doing opposed to just reading a lot of books. Once we have a solid understanding of real estate we would then want to scale into multi-family rentals.

After the first rental we will feel more comfortable looking for hard money to finance the purchases but don't want to have the interest rate and short term loan while we are learning for the first time.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to interacting with the BiggerPockets community!

[Alora Glaze]

Welcome to BP!
It is exciting to get going for your first initial investment - you have a benefit of location though. Chicago has several outer-lying suburbs to consider buy & hold strategies while your neighboring states in the midwest, like Indianapolis, have great economies to support all kinds of real estate investing.
Out-of-state investing requires a lot of research to start and, as mentioned above, a lot of networking to vet the team you'll need to work with to move your project forward.
Start by getting connected to a realtor who will have access to run comps for you so you can correctly evaluate potential ARV so you know what you'll need to put into your BRRRR property to maximize your ROI. Then, find your contractor team who has experience with REI; especially if you're wanting to start with a property with light repairs/renovation - then you'll need to know what products/materials you'll need to incorporate in order to reach your projected ending ARV.

Another point that may be helpful - use your social media resources, like facebook, instagram, etc. (free platforms) in order to connect with locals in the market who might have additional insight on areas, connections, and off-market deals.

Keep us posted on what route you take! Best of luck to you!