I'd love to pick your brain :) 

Hello BP,I was wondering how do you evaluate/determine your comfort level with regards to leverage. 

The lending is not nearly as "creative" as it was 10 years ago but the buying frenzy is picking up speed. 

The cons are that I have zero experience evaluating multi-family properties and determining if it is a good deal or not.

A bad realtor won't even pick up a bar tab let alone a phone. 

That's what should determine price.

So things that are red flag for me may be fine for someone more aggressive.1) Portfolio matching: (takes 30 seconds per deal)a) Have an educated opinion on where you think we are in the real estate cycles (financial and physical market cycles)b) Then only then pick the strategies, capital stack, and specialized asset subclasses that make sense for that opinion.

I've picked up books this year and realized how much I enjoy real estate, and would love to understand more about the process here in Chicago. 

One should always pick some properties that interest them and have solid cash flow, but please ensure you have a pre-approval ready to go when something really catches your eye.

Market rents for 3B 2B are around $4.2K, but I will update when we have a signed lease.From my knowledge of the Cambridge market, it all depends on your location in the submarket to determine rents (Ex.