All Forum Posts by: Forrest Williams

If you're looking at Chicago, I wouldn't overlook the suburbs. That's what I did when I first moved to the area. Cheaper prices, less competitive markets, but still decent rental rates. I own a two-flat in Berwyn and just started closing on a SFH in Bolingbrook.

And to echo another commenter, you won't be able to find a house for under 100k that isn't a total teardown. If you have 40-100k for a down payment you'll be good, but finding a livable house for less than 100k is not feasible. 

House hacking and youtube. The grit to tough out living in places with broken windows, shoddy plumbing, and raccoons in the attic in my 20s has paved the way to larger investments in my 30s. It taught me hundreds of DIY skills I use to save money today.

I don't know a lot about rent stabilization, but my instinct is stay away. When I look at fully occupied places, if the existing rents can't cover the mortgage, I move on. Those people have most likely lived in those apartments for years. Do you want to be the guy that comes in and evicts everyone from their homes? I know they don't technically own it, but in their eyes they may as well. Better off finding a different place. 

Not to mention, if you can't get higher rents because of the laws, you're looking at a big loss. Theoretically the numbers may look good, but that will change when you put it into practice.

@Kevin Herron I prefer small banks, but you can window shop a bit. I've had luck calling bankers up and getting a rough estimate of what I needed. You may want to look into USAA or another military focused bank as well.

Hi, welcome to the neighborhood! Speak to a bank that specializes in VA loans, they'll be able to help you out. For multi units in the area, I wouldn't overlook the suburbs like Berwyn or Oak Park as well. There are some great deals there. Feel free to reach out if you want to connect. And check out the local BP forum for Chicago if you haven't already.

Stay in school, it teaches you much more than what you learn in class. And if you've got your dream job lined up, why mess with what's working? But there are plenty of ways to integrate real estate into your spare time. Where is your dream job? Look at places on zillow in that area. How much do they go for? What are the common sizes of homes? What condition? Once you graduate, you can look into house hacking since you'll know the market. You don't have to check every day, but look a couple times a month.

I cannot recommend house hacking enough. I love it. I am currently doing my fourth. It teaches you so much about home maintenance, expectations, how everything fits together, tenant screening, dealing with banks, etc. Get a 3/2 that needs some TLC, fill it with roommates, and live for free. If you can find a multi-family in your area, that's even better.

I had a friend/neighbor in the Navy. He and his wife (also Navy) would buy houses that needed work, house hack them, and rent them out when they transferred. VA loans are some of the best loans in real estate, and they took full advantage of them. You can put the rental income on your taxes as well, which should help with the debt to income ratio.

@Eric Brindley is right. Get the survey, if you are lucky the fence will even be on it and you can put it to rest then and there. Otherwise you may have to measure.

A common way for folks to buy their first investment property is by leveraging their equity in their primary home. If you have $200,000 worth of equity in it, you can cash out $140,000-$160,000 or so and use that to buy a property. 

If you don't have access to cash and and worried about buying your first investment property, you don't need all cash to get started. 20% down payment or so will work. It's not a hard and fast rule investors need cash only.