New Investor in Chicago

[Andrew Lake]

Hello everyone,

I am a newbie to real estate investing. I’ve been reading books and listening to podcasts about real estate investing the past few months. I want to get started early as an active member and begin to network with others in this community.

A little bit about myself:

I’m a graduating senior and I’ll be starting my career in software development in Chicago this summer. I’ve grown up in the greater Chicagoland area (Northwest suburbs, near O’Hare) and have lived on the north side of the city the past year. After a friend’s enthusiastic recommendation, I decided to read Rich Dad Poor Dad which made me really excited about real estate as an investment. Since then, I have been using a variety of different resources to get to know the subject better which brought me to the BP community.

I plan on saving a significant portion of my income to use for my first deal in Summer 2021. I’m interested in multifamily residences, specifically a House Hack to get started and take advantage of the low down payment. Until then, I plan to learn as much as I can about real estate investing and get to know the markets that I’m specifically interested in. My ultimate goal is to achieve financial freedom with a diversified portfolio of properties in different areas.

Feel free to reach out and connect with me! I look forward to it.

- Andrew

[Patrice Boenzi]

@Andrew Lake welcome to BP and the wonderful world of real estate investing. Our son did the exact thing you are trying to do and it has been fun to watch him live off of cash flow right out of college. I am a Realtor and my association, @Jackie Bloom, and I would love to grab coffee with you and talk investing. The COVID-19 has put a wrench is things as @Jeff Burdick stated above. As Realtors, we cannot show any property with a tenant in place (even with permission from owner and tenant). We will get through this and from what I am hearing most people are expecting the market to be hot after things return to normal. lenders have changed some of their criteria right now i.e. FHA loans and one of my lenders told me that IDHA (down payment assistance program in Illinois) has been put on hold. I am sure a lender can share some light on this end of things...I try to stay in my lane. Good luck and keep educating yourself....learn to run your numbers!!