We believe in a better way to get started in real estate investing. No money down techniques have helped several of our members start taking ACTION in the field. Every week we meet on the south side of Chicago and look at properties to invest in - every time we look at a property it is not speculative, we're looking at them to decide whether or not we're going to make an offer.

Group philosophy (who knew Bruce Lee was an ancestral CAI): Knowing is not enough, you must apply. Willing is not enough, you must do.

@Sean Jones @Ted Meltzer @Robin Pritts

Our group is not free education, though there is no cost to get involved - we are spending our most precious commodity (time) helping new investors get started in this industry so if you have interest in taking ACTION with us, do so otherwise stay at home :)

This weeks group welcomed some new investors to the group! Kelly, Corey, Derik, and Dale!

We started off the meet up at a property we're looking at buying that already has tenants in one of the units. We walked through the property and talked with the tenant. The seller wants to keep the sale of the property under wraps for now so we had to be under the radar a little with the tenant as to our purpose there.

The property could cashflow ~$2700 per month so this would be a great buy & hold option. It was originally on the market for 280k and then came off and now is listed at 180k (seller knew he couldn't get rid of it for that much!)

For this property we discussed a house hacking opportunity for some of the group members. Getting an FHA loan would be simple and there is great cash flow opportunity. Some of the issues brought to our attention by current tenant would need to be addressed by the seller before acquisition.

There is a potential piping issue or cracked pipe somewhere as the tenant complained about some water level problems. Everything else was mostly a cosmetic fix.

We discussed ways of collecting rent - Social Security paychecks for rent are nice because there are no inspections involved and the check will be deposited directly to you each month it is due. Section 8 is nice however if there are any children under 5 moving in for a section 8 home it needs to be an essentially brand new property (from inspections standpoint). So it can be a double edged sword with this strategy as it helps you maintain and watch the property however the inspectors microscope every detail.

Rental increases: Usually you'll want to add something to the property to add value to justify (appliances, doors, etc.)

Sean recommended Mr. Landlord.com for reference.

We met at the second property for the day. This property was actually looked at by the group a few months ago and it went off the market. The seller contacted Sean and asked if we still wanted to get involved. What do you think Sean said...no? YEAH RIGHT. We're Chicago ACTION Investors.

We set up two new members in the group to make an offer on the property. Great structure, definitely lived in so will need some cosmetic work, the upstairs unit appears to have been used as a dog training area for dog fights but hey, it all looks like $$$ to us.

We discussed rehab options for this property on Green Street. Paint, cabinets, potentially putting in washer/dryer hookups but not installing the appliances to save on water bill. If we are going to rehab the basement we need to pull permits on the property to keep city involved on that front because if a disgruntled tenant or neighbor finds out you're doing something without city involvement they might call you out. SO it is always good to meet the neighbors so they can keep an eye out and also be on your side.