Thanks to my high W2 income and not having any debt, it would also be easy to get approved for some cheap 2.x% financing.Having never owned real estate, a good way to get started would be by owning my primary residence for a while, with the intent of eventually renting it out in a few years and in the meantime seeing how I feel about maintenance and home ownership in general.Unfortunately, the areas I am looking at are in very high demand (River North, West Loop, Fulton Market), and have prices such that I would at best barely break even with rent after taking into account HOA and taxes ($300k-500k range for 1-2 bd, HOA in the ~$500/mo).I understand condos in downtown are generally a bad investment, but I really don’t want my quality of life to suffer by moving far just for the sake of home ownership.

Keep at it, save as much as you can, and protect your credit like a pot of gold and you will be there before you know it. 

In many respects, they are there to protect the consumer and keep them from being homeless in the event of default. 

People in bankruptcy are afforded protections and if you don't follow those protections the penalty is often far worse then anything else.  

The current potential extension to Jan 15 is thought to suffer the same constitutional deficiencies as the old.

If not Ininvest in a secure door and deadbolt for your family doors to protect you from strangers being in your house that you have not done background checks on.

Always use and expert, to protect you and make your life easier.

Agents are obligated to disclose their license to anyone they negotiate with as a protection to laymen....who can still negotiate as they will, they've been clued that they are dealing with an expert.A real estate sale can happen between two laymen, two experts, or any combination of the two across the the spectrum.

And the trouble spots where these occur generally remain consistent across locations.An industry expert on how you can better protect your properties.You’d expect the problems low-income property managers face to be much different than those of someone managing luxury developments.

I've changed the details, to protect the guilty.1.