So as long as someone gets realistic with the TRUE cost to  own and maintain and the numbers work it can work but I am a big proponent if your going to have these types of assets they need to be paid for to really enjoy any financial benefit.lastly I can say the same thing about new builds.. over the long haul unless there is REAL appreciation more than just 2 or 3% if you sell within say 10 years your going to be lucky to break even as your going to have to spend 20 to 30k making the houses fresh again to get top dollar a 10 year old rental is not going to bring top dollar and the value at that point will only be what an investors will pay for a given cash flow..

It is true that you are able to find deals in every market, but one of the things I have learned is that finding the best markets to invest in is better that trying to make deals work in a bad market just because it is close to home.To answer your other questions. 

My passion is to help other active investors shift their strategy as I have.

However, this has to be the primary residence of everyone on title in order to qualify and even if that were all true, we're still only up to $1M that way.I agree with the other commenters, the parents should continue to own it and live in it as their primary, leave it to the daughter when they pass, and she inherits it at the stepped up cost basis. 

For LLCs, it’s true that many investors start without one, but with significant assets and your husband’s profession, asset protection is definitely worth considering.

Figuring out the true cost will heavily depend on the type of dig down, depth, and total square footage. 

Thanks for your insight, I didn't realize that's what it was- I wasn't 100% sure of the method, and knew it was in the "too good to be true" category, but that's a whole different presentation there of what this method really is.

Our focus has been on documenting our strategy, creating work instructions for all of our processes, holding true to our buy box, and not overleveraging ourselves. 

None of that is true. 

Might be a little bit down the road for me, but that is for sure dream that will come true...One Chicago's best features is the lake, which I'd like more access to.