Also, with spring coming, I may lose out on a longer term tenant.Opinions on whether I should take these tenants( assuming regular qualifications are met)? 

I know 2 of the 3 investments pay off down the road but I don't know if the Guru route pays the same dividends?

@Desiny SmithThe neighborhood south of the Arsenal is pretty good, as well as off of route 2 near the high school as you head west towards Latham.

They deteriorate at a pretty accelerated rate compared to a regular home.

Hopefully your post will generate some good input from Chicago folks who regularly advertise and who know the latest websites that get results.Apartments.com might be a good one.

If not, just learning from someone who has been doing this regularly  would more than enough for my first couple of projects.  

Many investors out of state with not enough time/skills go that route to get into REI space if backyard RE market is not viable option.

So might as well go directly to the guys who do this on a regular basis.

Since then, I've visited the site regularly.

At the end of 5 years, you can decide to change lenders, in which case you need to apply to other lenders, or your existing lender (as long as you have been making regular payments) will offer to continue your loan into a new term with the existing amortization continuing.