All Forum Posts by: Kevin Huang

 Thanks Oscar, I will definitely be listening those tonight.

 Thanks!  I'll definitely get in touch with her.  How long ago was that purchase?  50k at 10% down seems *quite* good, but maybe I just haven't been looking hard enough.

 Does your sister own a multi-unit in Logan Square?  I would love to do something like that but it seems well out of my price range.

 Which suburbs would you recommend looking in?  I need a location that's accessible to the city as well as the northern suburbs ideally.  I'd love to get into a 3 or 4 flat instead of a condo, but am concerned that they are out of my price range in the locations I would like.

Thanks for your advice Derrick! Apparently the FHA 3.5% loans cap out at $365,700 and conforming loan limit is $417,000 in Cook County, which is where I have been doing the majority of my research. These limits do go up outside of Cook, but then we're no longer talking about looking at property in the City.

Have you had experience in the Chicagoland market (city, suburbs, or both)?

Hi all!  New to Bigger Pockets (discovered through listening to the podcast) and am excited to join the community.

Some background on myself - I recently graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with an Masters of Accounting Science degree and am currently employed at one of the Big 4 accounting firms.  I'm currently renting an apartment in Lincoln Park, but given the nature of my work I've found myself staying at my parent's house in the northern suburbs for the majority of the time.  Having to pay rent on property that I'm not even living in is what prompted me to look into purchasing real estate, and as I started doing more and more research I eventually stumbled across this site.

Currently, I've got about ~$18k saved up after working for about 5 months and have started looking at property listings on Realtor.com/Trulia/Zillow/etc. and have noticed that I'm basically in the running to put a down payment on a 2-3 bed/bath condo in Chicago, but any multi-unit properties are basically out of the question based on cost.  This wasn't super surprising to me as I realize how expensive real estate gets in the city, however it was still somewhat disappointing as my ideal plan was to purchase at least a duplex and rent out the one half of it.

Given the position that I'm in (recent college grad/young professional who works in the city), what would you guys and girls recommend that I do?  I definitely plan to live in the first property that I purchase and would ideally like to live in the city.  However, if the potential for profitability is night and day between purchasing in the city vs. the suburbs, I would definitely be willing to make sacrifices to my personal preferences.

Is it worth it to be investing in a condo if I can rent out one or two bedrooms, or would my money be better spent on investing in a duplex in the suburbs?

If investing in a condo, where would be the best neighborhoods to look at?  So far I'm considering Logan Square, Bucktown, Lakeview, and Uptown just based on things I've heard, but have I already missed the boat on these?

If looking at the suburbs, where are the best spots to buy?  If I had to go this route the first place that comes to mind for me is Evanston (just because it's relatively easy to get to the city from there and I enjoy the "vibe" there).  However, I'm sure there are other (better) options available and I just don't know where I should be looking.

Thanks in advance for your help!