Chicago House Hackers Meetup

Event
Real Estate Events & Meetups
9yFollow

Chicago House Hackers Meetup

When:

Where:Kincade's Bar & Grill - 950 W Armitage

Cost:Free

Sign up to Attend Event

Disclaimer: BiggerPockets does not support or sponsor any meetups unless otherwise noted. Do your due diligence before attending any events. You may be agreeing to attend an event that includes promotion, pitching, or high-pressure sales tactics or techniques. Poster certifies that there will be no pitching of products or services at this event.

Kenneth Cowan
Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 97 posts · 55 votes

This will be the first meetup event for this group.  We are trying to organize a small get together of those currently using and those aspiring to use the house hacking investing method in the Chicago area.  This event is meant to be a chance to discuss and share experiences and best practices, and there will be no pitching of services.  Ideal attendees would be current investors or those looking to learn from others who have already implemented the strategy.  

We are two new investors who recently purchased our own house hack 3flat in Portage Park.  We don't have years worth of experience, but we feel like we already have some fun stories to share, and we look forward to hearing those from others.  If this event is successful, we hope to line up guest speakers and experts to share words of wisdom on how to better execute on this strategy.

We tried to pick an easily accessible location.  Kincaid's is right off the Armitage stop on the Brown line in Lincoln Park.  The venue is free, however we would encourage everyone to have a drink and/or a bite while there as our hosts are allowing free usage of the space if we can get 15 attendees.  So, if you plan on coming, please RSVP with a response in the comments. 

We look forward to meeting some fellow hackers!

0Reply
28 views

Most Popular Reply

Guillermo Ramirez
Rental Property Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 14 posts · 6 votes
9y
Kenneth, Thank you for hosting the meet up. Me and my wife enjoyed meeting you guys and hearing everyone's stories.
4Reply
See this reply in the discussion

47 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • Kenneth Cowan
    OP
    Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 97 posts · 55 votes
    9y

    Will do @Meghan McCallum. I was waiting to see how the first event turned out, but I've already got you on my follow up list for the future meetings. I'll check the events page before scheduling the next one so I avoid the overlaps. 

    0Reply
  • Meghan McCallum
    Specialist · CHICAGO · Member since 2015 · 680 posts · 650 votes
    9y

    @Kenneth Cowan Hey! No worries! We meet every other Monday. We are looking to change up location and add a little more structure to the meetings. We have Club meetings in 5 Midwest cities already (including Chicago). We are looking to formalize some of the group and meeting structure. I have a meeting with my technology team tonight and tomorrow to start integrating the network (of investors) on a digital platform. Your attendees are all welcome to join us in the future. Look for the post that says Chicago REI Club...that's us!

    0Reply
  • Kenneth Cowan
    OP
    Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 97 posts · 55 votes
    9y

    Hi @Mike B. - For now, we are asking that the meeting be solely focused on investor to investor discussions and sharing.  The goal is to take a lot of the networking layers out of the meeting and focus solely on the strategy and benefits behind house hacking.

    That said, I would (and will) encourage attendees to reach out to you if they are actively looking for that first or second house hack.  Please feel free to message me any details (location, price point, units, etc.) and I'll be sure to keep you in mind as we meet and discuss.

    0Reply
  • Guillermo Ramirez
    Rental Property Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 14 posts · 6 votes
    9y
    Kenneth, Me and my wife would love to attend. We purchased our 1st 2 flat in portage park as well and still house hacking. We are working on our 3rd property that is a 8 plex. We have been investing for 3 years now. What is the address and time of the meet up?
    0Reply
  • Kaitlyn Cowan
    Chicago, IL · Member since 2017 · 3 posts · 0 votes
    9y

    Hi @Guillermo Ramirez! We look forward to meeting you both. It definitely sounds like you have some great experiences to share! 

    The meet up is at 7pm, Monday night. The address for Kincades is 950 W. Armitage.... right off the Armitage brown line stop in Lincoln Park.

    0Reply
  • Scot Howat
    Investor · Hoffman Estates, IL · Member since 2014 · 434 posts · 185 votes
    9y

    What about a reverse house hack?  Would that still qualify....

    0Reply
  • Lumi Ispas
    Real Estate Consultant · Chicago, IL · Member since 2014 · 720 posts · 439 votes
    9y

    Hi Guys, This event sounds good and it's just down my alley. I teach those type of seminars or House Hacking. So I'll be there on Monday!

    0Reply
  • Dan Jaeger
    Flipper/Rehabber · Naperville, IL · Member since 2016 · 13 posts · 10 votes
    9y
    Kenneth Cowan I’m looking forward to attending the meet up Monday night. My wife and I flip houses and are thinking about doing our first house hack.
    0Reply
  • Kaitlyn Cowan
    Chicago, IL · Member since 2017 · 3 posts · 0 votes
    9y

    @Dan Jaeger we look forward to meeting you tomorrow night and sharing experiences! 

    0Reply
  • Kenneth Cowan
    OP
    Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 97 posts · 55 votes
    9y
    Scot Howat I'm not familiar with the reverse house hack. You may have to educate me on that one. But if it's related to owner occupying of a rental property, I'm all ears. Hope to see you there.
    0Reply
  • Scot Howat
    Investor · Hoffman Estates, IL · Member since 2014 · 434 posts · 185 votes
    9y

    Yes sir.  I bought my first property as a flip right before the market crash, then I ended up renting it out for 4 years.  And then we decided to move into the property and we've been living for 5 years now.  

    I'm trying to coin the phrase "reverse house hack" before @Brandon Turner does.

    2Reply
  • Kenneth Cowan
    OP
    Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 97 posts · 55 votes
    9y

    @Scot Howat great idea, Brandon is known to swoop in so you gotta get out in front of it. 

    Make sure we discuss this tonight, I want to hear about that decision and how it's been going since. I'm sure it wasn't easy to change course. 

    1Reply
  • Weston Harding
    Real Estate Broker · Chicago, IL · Member since 2017 · 179 posts · 65 votes
    9y

    I look forward to meeting everyone. I will be there :)

    0Reply
  • Conrad LegéPro Member
    Chicago, IL · Member since 2017 · 104 posts · 35 votes
    9y

    Hey Kenneth, thanks for setting this up. I'll be there tonight.

    0Reply
  • Guillermo Ramirez
    Rental Property Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 14 posts · 6 votes
    9y
    Kenneth, Thank you for hosting the meet up. Me and my wife enjoyed meeting you guys and hearing everyone's stories.
    4Reply
  • Dan Jaeger
    Flipper/Rehabber · Naperville, IL · Member since 2016 · 13 posts · 10 votes
    9y

    @Kenneth Cowan @Kaitlyn Cowan Thanks for coordinating the event tonight. You did a great job organizing the meet up and setting the tone for an awesome networking event.

    2Reply
  • Conrad LegéPro Member
    Chicago, IL · Member since 2017 · 104 posts · 35 votes
    9y

    Great event @Kaitlyn Cowan and @Kenneth Cowan! It was a pleasure meeting you both and everyone else that I spoke to tonight. Looking forward to the next one.

    2Reply
  • Joe H.
    Developer · Chicago, IL · Member since 2016 · 82 posts · 88 votes
    9y

    Wish I would have seen this sooner, would have loved to meet up. I started out doing this and would love to share. Let me know if you have another meet up.

    0Reply
  • Weston Harding
    Real Estate Broker · Chicago, IL · Member since 2017 · 179 posts · 65 votes
    9y

    It was great meeting everyone at the event last night. 

    0Reply
  • Cristian Zuniga
    Chicago, IL · Member since 2017 · 1 post · 1 vote
    9y

    Thanks so much for getting us all together @Kenneth Cowan and @Kaitlyn Cowan. Enjoyed hearing everyone's experiences and learning more about house hacking do's and don'ts. 

    1Reply
  • Kenneth Cowan
    OP
    Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 97 posts · 55 votes
    9y

    A big thank you to everyone that attended our meetup last night.  @Kaitlyn Cowan and I were thrilled to see the turnout and we were energized by all the enthusiasm in the room.  So many different stories pursuing the similar goals of financial freedom.  We tried to make it around to say hi to everyone, but I know I missed a few.  I hope to meet all of you at the next event.  And speaking of that, given the feedback from the event, we are going to try to setup another event, either monthly or bi-monthly.

    Some quick highlights from last night.  We had 20 attendees of all sorts of backgrounds: 8 attendees working on getting their first property still, quite a few with 1 or 2 properties to their names, and we had 3 attendees with more than 5 transactions under their belt.  A great mix!  

    See you all next time.  Let me know if you have any ideas about the next meetings or how to reach more folks that may be working on getting those first few properties.

    2Reply
  • Andy Bahr
    Charlotte, NC · Member since 2017 · 18 posts · 7 votes
    8y

    Please let me know when the next House Hacking Meetup is!

    0Reply
Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.
Log InJoin for Free