Chicago-land Investor New to Bigger Pockets

[Daniel Kurt]

Hi Bigger Pockets! My name is Daniel Kurt. My family and I live in Glenview, IL, and own a two-flat in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Chicago. I'm really excited to get more involved with Bigger Pockets.

I'll share a bit about my background, my plans, and how I'll contribute to the Bigger Pockets community.

My wife and I bought our first house in Columbus, OH back in 2010 for $209k using the first-time home buyers tax credit and an FHA loan. We walked away with more cash in our pocket then we had before closing. A year later, we bought a single-family home a block away for $120k that we renovated and rented out. We moved to Chicago a few yeas later, selling the first for $259k and the second for $225k. That cash allowed us to buy a two-flat in Bucktown where we lived in one unit and rented out the other. We stayed for three years, and then bought another two flat in Lincoln Square, repeating the same process while making the Bucktown property a full-rental. We sold the Bucktown property in late 2020 in order to buy a single family in Glenview in early 2021, and now the Lincoln Square property is a full-rental bringing in $7,200/month. We have about $400k in equity in the property that I will leverage to start doing real estate full time. My goal is to get to $30,000 in passive cash flow in the next five years. I have a start with our current two-flat, and my plan is to follow the BRRRR strategy in the inner suburbs of Chicago, with an aim to do my next deal in early 2022.

Here's what I'm working on right now:

1) I'm identifying the markets I want to focus on, and I'm starting to isolate around the near North West suburbs like Evanston, Wilmette, Lincolnwood, Skokie, Glenview, etc. I have a lot to learn about the rental markets in the burbs, and I'm digging in and soaking up as much information as possible.

2) I'm interested in finding a local bank that I can deeply partner with, enabling us to leverage our assets to acquire distressed properties and renovate them for all cash, followed by a cash out refi after seasoning.

I plan to do the first two or three BRRRR deals myself, and then bring in limited partners to accelerate the process.

If anyone needs help understanding the neighborhoods in Chicago that are north of downtown, I'm happy to help. I have some experience in real estate, but no where close to other folks in the community. Still, I'm happy to share anything I have learned through the deals I have done.