All Forum Posts by: Lucas Hammer

I agree with @Matthew Olszak. The overall migration of millenials to cities is going to keep Chicago growing, even if baby boomers and the middle aged start moving out. Businesses are still coming back to the city, Motorola being the biggest one off the top of my head, and jobs are still plentiful. I personally moved to Little Village to get started in real estate because the prices were low and I could handle the crime and quality of life here (tons of amazing Mexican food helps too).

I think Garfield Park is going to be an area that actually sees some decent growth, but the crime rate in the neighborhood is going to slow that down for a while. That said, I'm looking at possibly expanding into North Lawndale just south of there hoping that the Pilsen gentrification keeps moving west. I think GP is going to see the same thing eventually, but it's going to move out from the West Loop, so the area near the conservatory will take a bit to see it.

So I'm working on repairing/fixing-up a 2-flat that I have now and rather than do one small project at a time, I'm flirting with the idea of taking out an unsecured loan from something like lendingtree or Marcus by Goldman Sachs, but I want to make sure that I can refinance at the end of it to get out of that loan once it's over. I know that experience RE investors have a good idea of what ARV will be, but this being my first deal, I'm trying to figure out the best way to figure out ARV or get an idea of what an appraisal will be after the work is done.

Come to the dark side... I mean, South side. I lived in Albany Park for a few years as a renter and when I decided to buy a multi-unit, I ended up in Little Village, near California and Cermak. I'm not cashflow in currently, but as soon as I move out and rent the one I'm living in, I'll have a decent margin for my first deal. 

Same here. I'm looking for non fha for either refi on my current 2-flat or owner occupying another multi unit.

@Account Closed Yeah, my 2-flat has two 7x10 rooms. Half of the buildings I've looked at are like that down here. There are a few that have been fully gutted and remodeled to be shaped differently, but that's pretty much the standard here and people rent them all over.

Mine took about 5 months total. In January of 2016, I got a note slipped under my door in my Albany Park apartment that there was new management. I know that meant rent going up and the building was going to get nicer, so I started looking for a place to buy so I wouldn't have to deal with the rising Chicago rents. We decided on a condo short sale and during the negotiations, Reddit's /r/realestate forum mentioned coming here for info on investing. I came over here, the condo fell through, and now I own a 2-flat on the Southwest side of Chicago. From the time we offered on the second one, it only took a month or two, but the short sale ate up the first few months just waiting on the bank.

Welcome @Kevin Tornes! I'm actually house-hacking in Little Village on the southwest side of the city right now. Born in Denver, was young in Colorado Springs, lived most of my life in Tulsa, and now up here in Chicago, so although I haven't seen as many cities as you, I took a similar path to get around here. Let me know if you have any questions on any areas up here and I'd be happy to give you my take!

@Todd Douglas Thanks for the heads up. I'm not quite prepared to purchase any other properties, but I'm just trying to get my info together. I'll be reaching out if we decide to do more scouting in Detroit though!

@Dennis Canon, not the OP, but I would assume that he bought one, paid it down to refinance out of FHA, then moved into the next one, then repeated that process a few times. I'm actually looking to do the same at mine currently as the only way to use FHA multiple times.

Just to clarify, wouldn't 60616 be two zip codes from Little Village (60623)? I know I personally live in the tiny strip of LV that falls in 60608, but the vast majority of that is Pilsen, which I see having a higher upside if you can get into it at your price point.