Chicago Multifamily - Current Market

[Michael Fortier]

Hi All,

I've not only been a long time fan and consumer of BP, but I've had a goal of house hacking a 2-3 unit multifamily property for a couple years now to help facilitate not only an increase in savings from my W2 but also start a path to financial freedom for my significant other and I. Recently we've been talking almost daily about moving on from being renters and buying our first property together whether that be single family or a multifamily property. My better half hasn't always been completely on-board with a multifamily property, mostly due to terribly loud neighbors the last couple places we've rented and wanting a space for ourselves. With all that said, due to the high interest rates and increasing cost of single family homes no matter the area here in Chicago, I think we're both in agreement that a short term sacrifice is well worth the savings and wealth growth if we can find something that makes sense.

My question for the community, specifically investors here in the Chicago market, is are you seeing deals that still produce cash flow using FHA financing or are those deals few and far between right now? I should also add that because this would be a house hack, I'm looking for something in an area that would probably be considered less risky. I know a lot of this is very vague and there's several other factors that need to be considered here i.e. what we're capable of putting down, specific location, etc. but high level I'm trying to determine if it even makes sense in this market to pursue a 2-3 unit, because at the end of the day if it doesn't cash flow after I move out, I'm only getting further from our ultimate goal of financial freedom.

My thought is if the math doesn't make sense in the current conditions, it may be more beneficial for us to do something more geared towards a live and flip. I'm a project manager for a large GC in the area and could leverage that skill-set.

Our lease ends at the end of summer, so one way or another we're moving forward but any thoughts or advise would be really appreciated!

Thanks!