Unlike a lot of folks I actually love my 9-to-5 engineering job and in no rush to get out of it, just supplement active income with passive.

However, nothing is stopping you from creating a generic "commercial space" on the first floor and then opening a fitness center where one of the requirements of being a member is to live within a certain address (such as the apartments above).

@Carl Fischer @Haley Gant I was talking about a generic 401(k) offered by any employer.

@Doug Davis...1) ask them if the closing fees  include  100% of the  costs  (  appraisal / title insurance / settleement  are these included )  2)  ask for  several other  rate  / fee  options ..you should be able to pay  more in loan fee to buy the rate down  if interested  3)  if you want to put  less down - you should be able to get a higher loan amt ...max  is  85% loan to value  fvor many lenders  4) if you are  emailing specific loan officers - great ...if you are   simply emailing a   generic  website at these  credit unions -  you likely  will not get a  detailed reply ....I would recommend  contacting  these credit unions and any other  people you are  shopping  via  phone  or  to  their direct ermails .....no need to  get  8 quotes ...3 or  4  should be plenty 

If I died in a boat accident my income would be supplemented by all the rental properties we owned.Then I made just a simple spreadsheet in excel with cash flow amounts. 250, 300, 400 etc.

He is a high school teacher, so this works especially well for him to supplement his income during his time off.

PR or personal representative, when typically used as a generic term meaning the representative of a decedent's estate, but have a specific legal meaning in some juristuctions.

Taking those earnings to supplement my leveraged rentals, maintaining my principal in this area. 

Colin, it's all very well to write a generic comment like: "it is very important to consider that Chicago is a large city and has many different types of areas", but, the OP wants to know what YOU think of THIS area(?)!

I send all numbers a generic text with info and a specific time/day to see the placeI also pre-screen each person and tell them good luck in their search if they're not the type of people I want to rent to.Then schedule everyone mostly for that specific times and day.