Advice for first property, BRRRR

[Sean Elliot]

Hi, I'm interesting in putting the pieces in place to make a career change, starting out following the BRRRR strategy. I live in Irving Park and would like for my first property to be within a 20-30 minute drive (pre COVID). I feel like the more time I spend researching the property and the neighborhood the more successful I'll be. I also think the more time I spend at the property during the renovation, the more successful I'll be. That being said, the best opportunities seem to be far southside or south suburbs. I'm in the office 9-5 M-F and worry that for my first property to be an 2 hour roundtrip, I risk getting taking advantage of or miss out on some key learning opportunities.
Is this reasonable logic?  Should I wait for an opportunity in Hermosa or North Austin because I'm more likely to be able to visit the property more frequently.  
Thanks for your time,

Sean

[Henry Lazerow]

Congrats on starting the research! The properties in south suburbs and higher crime areas look better on paper but aren't necessarily better investments in real life. You are a lot more likely to have problems such as high vacancies, evictions (which can take half a year in chicago and be very costly), high turnover costs, etc. 

I always recommend first time investors buy their first building in an area they would live themselves. This way you can buy low down 3.5% owner occupant loans and also it's alot easier to deal with tenants who are similar to yourself. 

If you want to do a BRRR a lot of my clients will do something similar where they rehab an owner occupant 2-4 unit property and then get a HELOC which is a line of credit they can pull cash off of for the next deal.