New From Chicago - FHA 203k for first deal?

[Lisa Maceda]

Greetings all! My name is Lisa and I currently live in the West Loop area of Chicago and work as an interior designer. My boyfriend and I are in the stage of gathering information and formulating a plan to begin flipping in our spare time which will hopefully snowball into a full time gig. He's the numbers guy and I have experience with construction and aesthetics so we will make a good team. We are thinking of rolling buying our first home in with our first "deal" as a somewhat safe way to get our feet wet. We are thinking of going the FHA 203k route in one of the nicer areas west of the city (Oak Park, Elmwood Park, Riverside, etc) so that we can take advantage of the lower down payment, rehab loan, etc. After living there for a year or so, if we goofed up and can't sell it, then at least we have a place to live! Has anyone else done this or thought about it? We know it makes for a slow start, but we don't have the traditional 20% down nor the reserves to take on reno. Ideally, this deal will work out in our favor and we can start financing much quicker deals. Also, if anyone has a recommendation for someone they have worked with on getting a 203k (we are thinking streamline at this point) loan, please send me a message.