They can be tough to resell as well due to the higher down payment required for example. 

Credit score- the higher the best. 760-780+ generally gets best pricing for investment property loans with most lenders.

•Which unit size would rent faster and have higher demand in this area?

And I opt for the higher deductibles generally unless the price difference is minuscule.

Additionally the suburbs have higher taxes compared to Chicago proper.  

Overall, though the cash flow in my market may be lower, the strong appreciation has made for a higher total ROI and I've continued to buy here. 

However, consider whether the upgrades will help attract higher-paying tenants or reduce vacancy rates, which might justify doing the work beforehand.

As you move up the scale to higher prices, you get more benefits/services.  

If that leasing agent is amazing then the higher the splits that the leasing agent can command.

Even if every Concrete crew was "legal", wages would pull them to other low paid laborer jobs such as landscaping, house framing, meat packing, etc, causing wages and cost to go up for new Self Storage Construction, let alone availability.Security Systems- yep sourced overseas, China.Interest rates going lower, but I expect Inflation to go higher.