All Forum Posts by: Mei Bae Wu

Hi Luc - my name is Mei Bae and I'm a 27-year-old tech professional with a Texas Realtor's license. I lived in Chicago for about a year and plan on getting my Illinois Realtor license in the near future! 

I'm interested in investing in multi-family units in Chicago in the future so let me know if maybe you'd like to partner up and/or build a syndicate for future deals(: 

Hi @Jonathan! Happy to be connected again!

Ideally, I'd rent it as a 2bd1ba but have the option to rent out the other bedroom if I choose to live there at some point. 

Would we need approval from HOA if we own the apartment? I might have had the newbie assumption that since I would own the unit, I would have freedom to make slight changes.

Targeting Lakeview East!

Howdy everyone!

My name is Mei Bae and I am a Houston Realtor with Keller Williams Metropolitan.

In the near future, I plan on getting my Illinois Realtor license and service the Chicago market as well!

What better combo than to spend the beautiful summer days in Chicago and the warm winter days in Houston?!

I’m also an investor looking to get more doors through multi-family units. 

Let’s get connected! Happy to serve you and all of your real estate needs<3

Xoxo,

Mei Bae

Investment Info:

Other buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $98,000
Cash invested: $33,000

Bought a 4 acre agriculturally-exempted piece of land with a syndicate including my mom and my sister back in 2020 and has since almost tripled in price by 2023.

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

The property was going as a land sale when there was already a house built on it with a detached garage, huge storage shed, a small animal, pen, and a four horse barn. The house was flooded in so it was considered unlivable, therefore it was going for land sale only.

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

Zillow. Negotiated the purchase price down from six figures.

How did you finance this deal?

Pulled in cash from immediate family.

How did you add value to the deal?

Currently, we are just holding onto the land, but plan on re-building a house and more properties to rent out on the land. I also plan to create a farmers market on it for the neighbors.

What was the outcome?

The land has appreciated about three times by 2023 without any construction done.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Maintaining a big piece of land requires lots of big expensive tools and time.

Hi Bigger Pockets family,

I am interested in flexing a 1bd/1ba condo in Chicago and house-hack to help offset the high HOA fees in the high-rise.

Flex as in put a temporary wall in the living room to make a second bedroom which is super common in New York City. 

If anyone has experience with this, I would love to connect to learn more about it, the contractor you used and the materials chosen. 

Thanks in advance!

Xoxo,

Mei Bae

Howdy!

I am looking to connect with an architect in the Houston area to help me visualize a commercial building plan that would be used for a student lodging. 

If anyone has any recommendations on rendering software, that I can tinker with first before meeting with an architect, please let me know. Thank you!

xoxo

Mei Bae

Quote from @Eudith Vacio:

Awesome @Mei Bae Wu - I didn't realize you were in Texas, that's super cool. But definitely would recommend Art Betuzzi, he owns the I love real estate school. Do you visit Chicago often or are you moving here permanently soon? we should connect!

Can you tag Art for me? I lived in Chicago for a year but had to move back home to Texas to deal with mental health. I plan on moving back to Chicago next year!! Yes, let’s!!

xoxo
Mei Bae

Quote from @Eudith Vacio:

Hey @Mei Bae Wu 👋🏽

I absolutely LOVE the idea of getting this done, and also I think getting your real estate license will prove to be very helpful. 

What are you doing now? & how are you studying / prepping for your license? here to help if I can :)

Thank you for the enthusiasm! 

I am going to take real estate prep at Champions School for Real Estate in Texas as I’m currently located in Texas but will do the same with a Chicago school when I’m ready to get my Illinois license. 

Please let me know if you have any clients that would LOVE this idea as well! I would love to connect. 


xoxo
Mei Bae

Quote from @Jonathan R McLaughlin:

full gut rehab and an elevator? Its hard to imagine you will be able to make this work by renting the apartments after. I would think you would have to sell as condos to provide any kind of return. 

Construction costs vary widely, but I doubt you could do a full rehab for less than 250/sf and likely more, maybe much more.

Yeah… the elevator was a little far-fetched. 

I see. @Jonathan Klemm and I are gonna chat about costs so I can get a better idea of the costs.

Quote from @Jonathan Klemm:

You're da man @Paul De Luca!

Hey @Mei Bae Wu - Happy to help you with some rehab costs.  There's a lot that goes into a full gut 4/3 with a basement.  What area of Chicago is the property in?

I will send you a message with our rehab calculator and then it might make sense to dive into the details more.

Either way, you are on the right path jumping onto BP and you are definitely asking the right questions!

The property was on the west side near United Center.

Unfortunately, the property was actually sold in July but Zillow just updated it last night. 

This is why I should lean on my realtor instead of searching on my own haha. 

West side is an opportunity area so there’s quite a few options that I am looking at on Zillow. I need to confirm with my realtor if they’re actually on the market lol. 

Thank you so much for the encouragement!!! Always much needed for beginners.