All Forum Posts by: Nick O.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Aurora.

Purchase price: $171,000
Cash invested: $34,200
Sale price: $165,000

The market crash got me good on this one. It was my first house, purchased in 2006, which lost 50% of its value seemingly overnight.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional 30yr loan, 20% down

What was the outcome?

In 2012 I realized I was going to have to wait it out for a while longer so, rented it out, moved in with family, saved up money, and bought a new house (that we got for a bargain or course). Held on to the rental for 6 years until the market recovered enough to get most of my downpayment back out of it.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Learned how to be a landlord, budget money, do repairs, fix code violations, etc. A worth while and valuable experience.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Sean Morrissey at Chicagoland Realty Group helped manage the rental and brokered the sale of the property. Great guy to work with, very knowledgeable, and an investor himself. Would definitely recommend working with him!

@Adrien C. and @Scott Steffek

Thanks to both of you!  I appreciate you taking the time to help me out with this question.  I'll look further into the NWI area.

Is there anyone out there investing purely for cash flow with no expectation of appreciation? To me this seems like a solid strategy since we can talk all day long about when the next bubble will burst but no one REALLY knows when that will happen. I live west of Chicago and you can forget about cash flow anywhere near me simply because of taxes so I'm looking elsewhere...Michigan, Indiana, or even western/southern Illinois. One market has caught my attention lately though. Elkhart, Indiana. Cheap properties, low unemployment rate, super low taxes, great cash flow. Anyone have buy and hold experience there and willing to share their stories?

Hey all, looking for some resources in the Kalamazoo area for buy and hold properties.  My brother lives in the area (which is why I'm looking there) and he could help me oversee any rentals I acquire.  I would still want professional property management in place and would like to connect with an investor friendly broker.  Any recommendations are much appreciated!

@Nate Miersma How long have you had your units in Kalamazoo?  What is your vacancy rate like?  I live west of Chicago and the prices/taxes are just out of control here so Kalamazoo is an area I've been researching.  Sounds like you're happy with your property manager, would you mind sharing her details?  Thanks in advance!

Chad Goldenberg I've had a SFR on the West side of Aurora for 4 years now and it's been really good to me. As you probably already know it's all in the screening. The city will inspect on occasion but they give you ample time to correct deficiencies before re-inspection. There is a property registration form along with a $90 fee that has to be filled out/paid every year and if you plan on self managing you must take the 6hr crime-free housing class which is held at the police headquarters. This class is free. Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions!

@Mike H.

Thats some mind blowing information for a new guy who thought he would never have the means to get in the game!  I just need to dig into the finding/analyzing deals part so I can get moving on this new knowledge.  Do you invest up this way at all or do you primarily stay close to Manteno?

Mike H. Thanks for taking the time to share so much info about your deals and experience! You're living the dream that I am pursuing. What experience do you have using a HELOC to fund buy and hold deals? I have a decent amount of equity in my home and want to leverage that as much as I can to get started. What would a deal using HELOC look like?

@Account Closed It makes much more sense to me now, thanks for sharing!

@Wendell De Guzman I stumbled upon this post searching for info to get started with my real estate investing journey and after reading most of the 26 pages in this thread I'm really inspired to get out there and make it happen.  Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences with everyone here!