I have two banks that have done so as well as a credit card, and know of a couple of organizations that have as well.

A couple other neighborhoods I like besides the two you mentioned are Washington Park, Hyde Park, Woodlawn, and South Shore.I think that area will continue to be gentrified because you have the lakefront as well as CTA trains.Is there any reason you are targeting Chicago instead ofdoubling down in Kansas City?

With that amount of equity and being in CA I think you have a couple decent options1.

Hence the idea of a couple more properties, however, with much more units than I currently have per building. 

I currently reside in Ohio where I buy SFR rentals and do a couple flips a year.

The property has to be considered 'in service' for you to list it on your tax return.In service entails a couple of items such as1) The property is in livable condition - Working bathroom, kitchen and an area to live.2) The property was advertised for rent.Best of luck

Buying one property or so every year or couple years.But I recently thought.

I still have enough room with my VA entitlement for a buy and hold in a couple of years, so I'd rather save it for later!

Double or triple that suckage for anything less than C+/B-   If you wouldn’t be willing to walk there from a couple blocks away at 10PM, that’s a hard pass in any market. 

Mitch Stephen out of San Antonio has had 4 called due in the last couple of months.