Hi Delroy,Congrats on your 2-flat purchase—exciting times ahead!

For example, a $550,000 two-flat in Albany Park might bring in $2,500/month from the rented unit while you live in the other—covering most of your mortgage.3.

Sounds like you are better off in a high yield savings account like @Dominic Mazzarella mentioned...Just out of curiosity, Nilusha, what Chicago neighborhood are your 2 flats in?

pid=2141Houston Real Estate Highlights for December and Full-Year 2024:-Following two consecutive years of declines, single-family home sales rebounded in 2024 with 85,163 single-family homes sold compared to 84,038 in 2023 an increase of 1.3 percent; -Total property sales for full-year 2024 were statistically flat at 101,864 units while the total dollar volume increased 3.1 percent to $41 billion;-December single-family home sales climbed 16.3 percent year-over-year with 7,162 units sold;-Total December property sales increased 13.6 percent to 8,478 units;-Total dollar volume for December rose 20.5 percent to $3.5 billion;-The single-family home median price edged up by 1.3 percent to $334,290 while the average price increased 5.0 percent to $425,150;-Single-family homes months of inventory expanded to a 4.0-months supply;-The townhome/condominium market experienced declining sales throughout 2024, and in December, volume declined 5.8 percent, with the average price up 2.5 percent to $268,152 and the median price statistically flat at $234,250;-Townhome/condominium inventory improved from a 3.5-months supply to 5.4 months.

I use white flat paint for all of my units. 

Have you considered a flat fee MLS listing as a way to gauge interest and possibly sell?

An example of that is tenant must pay for additional electric over flat fee / flat limit since now there is 2 occupants in the home instead of originally one.

Anyone have any experience with placing a flat billboard on the side of a building in Philadelphia? 

I did minor improvements to both of those, but unfortunately had to replace the roof on each (Flat roofs suck, lesson learned).

Since your lot is already zoned RS3, you can (by right) build a new SFH or 2-flat.