All Forum Posts by: Syed Lateef

@Kevin Huang

You are thinking the right way. I would recommend a 3 or 4 flat. I know you mentioned loan limits at $365K and $417K, but that is only for a 2 flat

The loan limits for a 3 or 4 unit increases. 

You can leverage low money down as first time home buyer like i did

@Brandon Johnson

I would reach out to other lenders. I recently closed on a FHA loan on a property with more than 2 units and had no issue using a FHA loan

I paid $550 and $650 for my inspections done on multi-family properties both in the north side of Chicago

Yes, inspection costs vary by size of house. 

Depending on the size of your property i would be wary on it being such a low price. You pay for what you get.

@Samson Kay How is your AirBnb working out? Any update since you originally posted?

@Joel Owens

As 2016 is coming to an end I wanted to write a quick post on some of my accomplishments and successes this year and thank to the people that have helped me get this way.  A high level summary of my highlights and deals i was involved in are below and my goals for 2017

2016 Highlights

1. Rogers Park Home (Wife's family's home)- $265K- Sold  (huge burden on my wife)

2. Morton Grove- Sister Condo $209K- Sold (convinced her to house hack)

3. Jefferson Park- 4 unit Multifamily $510K- First property I acquired (house hack)

4. Logan Square- 3 unit Multifamily $555K- Helped my sister acquire first multifamily (house hack)

5. Promoted to a Financial Manager @ my Corporate job

6. The most important highlight in 2016 is i became a father to my beautiful daughter Sofia 

2017 Goals:

1.  Acquire 1 more multifamily in north-side of Chicago

- Refinance out of my FHA loan to convention- Get into a FHA 203K loan for my second

2.  Help my wife acquire her first property & help my sister acquire a second property 

- Leveraging low money down loans (first time home buyer etc)

3. Get involved in at least 2 Flips

- Currently in talks partnering with people i met on BP and at Local REIA or a flip in Irving Park

4. Help my father with his mixed-unit commercial property in Rogers Park increase NOI

- Current rents are way under market- Units are in bad shape- Tenants are questionable

- Looking to increase appraisal value to do BRRR strategy

5. Help father develop empty plot of land in Rogers Park

- Adjacent to his commercial property, my father has a vacant piece of land due to a fire in 2007- 

- We are looking to develop the land into a mixed unit. We have gone through many complications over the years and the plot is still empty

6. Get more involved on BP and participate in Forums

I have a lot of work to do for 2017, but i cant thank Bigger Pockets enough and the people that i have met on here and have helped me through this process. Few people i have to give a shot out too are:

@Brie Schmidt; @Nnabuenyi Anigbogu; @John Casmon; @Mark Ainley; @Brandon Hall

@Brandon Hall

@Art Maydan I have the same issue with one of my rental properties in Logan Square Chicago

I will need to find someone to put insulation in the attic. 

If you find someone that does a good job and price please let me know

I too would like to know...  if you get a referral please pass that along

@Brie Schmidt

I am leveraging a 5% down first time home buyer conventional loan for a multi unit property in North side of Chicago.

My max loan amount for a 4 unit is $800K (the rents from the units i am not living in get added to my income to fund the loan)

My intention was to leverage the max loan amount, but i am having trouble finding the perfect property. I have been looking for about 8 months

I was thinking maybe changing my criteria to a 3 unit property around $300K-$500K as there is more quantity of this type of property

1. I wanted to ask BP is it better to stick to my criteria to max out my loan (i will not have the opportunity to this program again),  receive higher cash flow, paying down principle on a larger loan etc

2. Or pull a trigger on a less expensive property 3 unit property. Start making money today. Tired of sitting on the sidelines

3. Do properties around $400K appreciate faster/more than a property that is $800K or is it just whatever the appreciation rate in the neighborhood?

I really enjoyed playing with the below graph/data to understand high level multi-family trends in the Chicago market

https://www.redfin.com/blog/data-center