It’s humbing and frustrating, but it also teaches you those guardrails you’ll want next time.. like thorough screening, a solid lease agreement that sets ground rules upfront, and maybe even setting aside a bit more cushion in reserves.Chicago’s got plenty of investor-friendly pockets.

Quote from @Mathew Chacko: Hi friends, did anyone end up using e1031xchange ?

If that is the case then I would say yeah work with an agent who has a solid reputation either here or from a friend referral.

Some of my colleagues and friends bought millions, others tens of millions, and some hundreds of millions (or Billions) during that period.Real estate is a funny game - it tends to go up, yes, but it does not always go up, and it can go nowhere for a decade or more, as a lot of apartment complex purchasers from 2021 are about to find out. 

Additionally, the price point is still cheap enough to find the 1% rule and positive cash flow and it's super landlord friendly (so you will never have to go through a 12 month eviction or anything close to that!).

This brings me to now, I've taken this approach and have used my own money in lending, but am also bringing in friends and family to take part in these transactions so they can earn way better returns than with CD's.

This one I did 50/50 with a friend makes it way less stressful and allows me to do two projects at once without overdoing my risk tolerance. 

I did a "blind" assessment where I paid/reimbursed a close family friend to go in as a guest because there were a lot of details I wasn't privy to- and wanted to understand (the whole experience and process from the guest perspective from the initial inquiry, emails, etc.).They shared the email communications (some of which was glitchy or not quite as good as what I'd expect, or told me of delays in receiving responses).

Wasn't for me.I'm not affiliated with the company, although their founder @Brandon Hall is a colleague and a friend of mine. 

and even for friends and family, that's more of a favor than a loan...you asked not to sugarcoat, so here goes.