It was very much like pay to play. 

Since i play on living here for about 5-10 years i wanted to start investing.

Hey @Henry Lazerow - I would tend to agree that most of the NW side of Chicago 2-4 units don't play out perfectly well for BRRRR deals.I always looked at any potential house hack vs. having to rent - if my overall payments were less than the rent I generally considered that a win.For me...the house hack is just the ticket into the amusement park and then the fun rides come after...getting started can be overwhelming and hard so I can see why people might take a discount.I think one of the keys to strong equity creation is square footage creation which is basically what you outlined with duplexing up or down.

Later on, these questions will play a role and it's not that they are unimportant now, they are just in the wrong order.

Track down the new owner of the debt to complete the short sale and wake a sleeping creditor who doesn't need to play ball; or ignore it somehow (bad title company) and the new parties in interest get foreclosed from first lien position by somebody just waiting for the opportunity to squeeze everyone.

A couple years later, I did a cash out refi on it and pulled out 133k to play with.

It is also why virtually every RE syndication has an appreciation play.  

I really enjoy playing basketball as well! 

Hey Michael, This is a loaded question as there are a lot of variables that will play a roll into the cost.

@Jeff Rabinowitz true, but most HMLs dont play in ND.