I agree the fireplace looks dated.

I completely agree that appreciation should not be considered. 

@Mike Hanneman I totally agree !

The Chicago area is a pretty high point of entry plus the problem of people leaving the state faster than any other in the country due to governmental issues. 

Many people do end up breaking this rule in hot markets so they can aquire a place or just because they purely speculate on rising values@Beau Fannon I agree, most people I've seen posting don't take into account all expenses related to a property.

@Mike Walsh  I agree with you. 

I grew up here & after living many places throughout the country I recently moved back.

Agreed, you really shouldn’t own your personal residence in an llc....using it to own other properties is debatable.  

I agree with @Alina Trigub, You may want to consider a reputable partner from the area you are looking at for the first one.

I'm from Northern Cali as well, and I invest exclusively out of state... a lot of the popular turnkey cities don't really work any more, and I work with a lot of California-based OOS investors that have come to me with 1% deals that were plenty cheap but don't net any profit at the end of the year.As the opportunities become limited around the country, us spend-happy Californians need to be prudent about throwing 100k down in markets we're unfamiliar with.Let me know if you'd ever like to link up!