10+ Unit Success in Chicago?

[Jacob R.]

Have slowly gotten my start in Chicago Real Estate in the last few years. Started with a single condo unit, moved on to a 4 unit building in Portage Park. Realizing a lot of the headache for a condo is similar for a 4 unit...which I'm assuming will be somewhat similar to a larger scale building. Now I know a bigger building brings newer and bigger headaches (lot of commercial restrictions), but ignoring the simple scale of more tenants, seems like the economy of scale is there.

Curious if anyone has had success recently in 10+ unit multi family properties in Chicago/Chicagoland? If so, any words of wisdom? How did you find your property? Eager to hear stories of success/the pitfalls of going large!

Thanks,

Jacob

[Brian Ploszay]

I routinely buy rental units.  This is a hard time to purchase property in decent areas like Portage Park.  The buildings are simply too expensive.  

You can scale your business by purchasing larger buildings.  It also creates efficiencies, compared to a collection of smaller investments.  

Yet, more than 50% of my holdings are smaller properties.  The reason is that they were opportunistic buys.  

Condo units are sometimes difficult because of the association rules and monthly fees.  I'd rather control the entire real estate, if given an opportunity.