I'm interested in real estate in the Chicagoland area. 

And they will help you set goals and objectives.That may not be the answer you were looking for, but it transformed my life, and helped me get into real estate investing full time. 

Lesson learned Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Its like Fix and Flip loans/business purpose loans are now called "RTL's" real estate transition loans - same thing just different nameI know AAPL was trying to get away from the term "hard money" because for some it has a negative connotation but to me its all the same. 

Spend $200 and sit down with a real estate attorney and get the scoop first hand on what is allowed and what isn't.This is true for California, Oregon and Washington.

Given that real estate, in the long term, increases in value on average 4% per year, does purchasing a home make sense?

Start by reading the Ultimate Real Estate Investing Guide: https://www.biggerpockets.com/guides/ultimate-real-estate-investing-guide/introduction2.

I'm Samantha Derman from Los Angeles- I am passionate about animals AND real estate investing.

Basically, I need a whole team: a real estate agent, a loan broker, possibly a property manager, etc.

I’ve been actively making offers on duplexes for the past several months because I want to get started in real estate now.