Make sure to check the zoning and do a phase 1 environmental to make sure you can do what you want down the road and the property has no environmental issues.

I listened to a BP podcast and this girl on it bought a place in a flood zone; she let the bank organize flood insurance because they got it for a far better rate than she did.

Just know that everything in Chicago and probably most cities takes longer than expected, especially now with COVID.If you need any specific advice around zoning, permits, or the city PM me. 

And please forgive me, if your lender is "too busy"....that is a huge red flag to me. 

So, you really need to understand the location, how rainy it can be (the southern zone has a longer rainy season than other parts), how remote it is, and what the roads and other infrastructure is like.

The area had re-zoned school districts and is close to Redstone Arsenal which is one of the largest employers in the Huntsville area.

You'll have no problem using an FHA loan for example in a rural area, but might have trouble in a red hot area like NE Minneapolis since sellers don't want to deal with the headache of inspections, regulations, etc when they can get asking price in 2d from a conventional buyer.

@Michael Noto I’m not talking about war zone areas I’m just talking about C class lower income rentals with a high % of section 8 or otherwise gov assisted tenants.

It means you actually screen them and look for red flags that would indicate they are problematic.

We're underwriting a 21 unit package in the highlighted red area in L/A aiming to apply the same approach.