He owns a 2 flat that he bought a few years ago in a very hot Chicago neighborhood and has gone up in value by almost $200k since.  

It doesn't matter if you are young or old, totally new or need to build upon your experience.Yes, you have just announced a commitment to the thousands in this community about your seriousness regarding REI and have taken this bold step to affirm it.Your time on this site and with the BiggerPockets community will be well spent and can be financially rewarding if you so desire.You are here at the Forum, but, should raise your mouse to the top and explore the otherheadings displayed.Don't get overwhelmed by the massive amount of data archived on this site.Simply, bone up on the areas that you need to expand knowledge in such as, Forums,Marketplace, Learn, Network, Analyze, Resources.Feast on the Podcasts, #askbp Podcasts, blogs, webinars and the myriad of bookrecommendations.Also, you can review the quick links below to help solidify your grip on this site.http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere Setting up Keyword Alerts How to Use @Mentions on BiggerPockets 25 Tips for Real Estate SuccessAfter becoming more knowledgeable and confident because of my above suggestions, take action to snag your first real estate investment deal if new or add to your existing holdings if you have prior experience.Don't get caught up in analysis paralysis.You must immerse yourself in the RE marketplace locally in your neighborhood or afar if the situation warrants it.Take calculated risks if needed and you shall be rewarded!"

However, for some people it is invaluable.

Data provided by the owner:income - currently 13005 a month (14400 at full capacity at $600/mo each)mortgage - 8096 a month including taxes and Insuranceelectric - 60 a monthgarbage - 140 a monthincome 4709 a monthThis would be huge step from my current four family property, but I am interested.  

@Chevron Humphrey I'm a Realtor from the South Side of Chicago feel free to pm me anytime and we can discuss more market data.

Other than locally available data, we like to get absentee owner lists from Listsource (I show you how in this video) and we use postcards rather than letters as we can hit almost 2x the people with postcards.YellowLetters.com has some super nice postcards that will cost less than your cost for letters and will save you time as well.Hope that helps - best wishes!

I'm learning to get things quicker now that I have a good spreadsheet process to input data.

You should see a nice bump in value after it opens barring disasters on other fronts like interest rates, oil and world peace. 

Though the data is a little out of date (we're currently just shy of 320,000 members), the article is definitely solid and is of course, great press for us.How a Real Estate Investor Built a Thriving Social Network of 250K UsersPlease check it out and if you can, share it on your social media channels (Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / etc ) to help us spread the word!

I've seen the last 2 webinar's by @Brandon Turner  as well  - invaluable!