If your goal is to hold for a few years and hope for (or force) appreciation, then perhaps its an OK deal, too.Making predictions is hard, especially about the future.

I recently moved to the Chicagoland area and would like to invest my on-hand cash (all cash deals) in tangible real estate, already have a good allocation to stocks and bonds.

Options as in stocks, shares and markets and all that bs?

That said, lenders open doors that you cannot open yourself, and in my opinion are much more predictable than private money.

But $5000 for an architect to draw a room or two is ridiculous -- this is more than we've spent on an architect to draw up plans to build a new 4000 sf house we're working on.Find someone less expensive (ask their hourly rate and how many hours they predict the job will take)...

The stock market is oversold.

And what the money will be used for.Third: Contact INVESTOR (stocks,hedgefunds,forex) groups or companies.

You have more predictable income yield.Usually I look at my clients liquidity and net worth before I give ideas on what is possible. 

I'm hopeful to have the project COMPLETELY done in less time than that, so we paid abit more to get them from one of our local stocking suppliers.Compressing Rehabs Timelines involves extra costs.

Also, maybe you and @Matthew Paul can upload a pic to your profile to seperate yourselves from the pack (there are 3 matthew pauls with the stock icon) If you don't want to put your personal pic, consider one of a local landmark or hobby.