House Hack in Chicago

[Walker Kirkikis]

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

3 Unit with a total of 6 bedrooms/3baths along the Blue Line "L" in Chicago.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Goal was to house hack, live for free, cashflow, and gain equity in the property to start building my REI business.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Through investor-friendly broker. Identified the asset was undervalued and submitted an offer sight unseen. Got the building under contract before 15+ showings the next day.

How did you finance this deal?

FHA owner-occupied 30 year fixed.

How did you add value to the deal?

Improved unit I was living in and waited until turnover on other units. During turnover, improved units to what renters are looking for in current market.

What was the outcome?

Living for FREE + forced equity + cashflow

Lessons learned? Challenges?

This was a big learning experience that I would not have gotten via online/books. It goes to show that you learn the most by being active and running conservative numbers. I should have vetted contractors better to ensure there was no grey areas on the scope of work. ALWAYS spell out everything in the contracts with contractor or they will take advantage of you.