New Chicago Member - House Hacking and Multi Units

[Tim Koumoundouros]

Hello fellow Chicago area investors,

My name is Tim Koumoundouros.  I've been a long time follower of Biggerpockets and wanted to introduce myself and start to contribute to this great community.   

Little bit about myself:

I currently live in a small condo in Old Town that I purchased a few years ago and work downtown.  I've always been interested in real estate and have been following the Chicago market for 5 years now.  I have a construction background and am pretty handy so I can do many small repairs and maintenance items myself.  

My strategy:

I am looking to rent out my condo and purchase a multi-unit that I can house hack and hold as a rental.  I am targeting the northwest side of Chicago (Logan, Avondale, Irving, Humbolt) but am open to other areas as well such as Berwyn.  I am familiar with the HomePossible program and fully intend on taking advantage of the smaller down payment option. 

I've been doing a lot of reading on this site and am currently analyzing potential deals as I find properties. 

I look forward to networking with you guys and contributing in this forum!

[Henry Lazerow]

Good luck with the first house hack sounds like you have a good strategy layed out and that construction background will come in handy! Your Old Town condo should have appreciated so maybe you can cash out refinance it at some point to help fund some rehabs. Doing even a mild value add to the multi units can be very profitible. 

The NW side areas are growing like crazy right now both in appreciation/rents and a great place to hold property. You definitely can find some cash flow in these areas it is not solely an appreciation play. 

In regards to rent control this is illegal under STATE LAW which supercedes any local laws. Some politicians were mentioning it recently as a ploy for votes. But the state is not changing these laws in the near future.