First Time Home Buyer Looking to Network in Chicago!

[Ben Torres]

Hey BiggerPockets community! A new job opportunity has me heading over to Chicago and I’m itching to finally jump into my first house. I’ve been looking around the forums to start gathering some info on the area and would really like to connect with investors and agents here to gain more insight on the area.

I’m a Cardiac ICU RN from New York City that will be coming here to work at a heart transplant floor at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Streeterville. While the future salary from this job will work for my buy box, my current income at the moment comes from a travel nurse contract in California. I’ve heard from other nurses I’ve worked with that this sometimes presents issues with lenders when trying to get approved. If anyone is familiar with lenders that might understand my unorthodox income situation I would appreciate it!

Ideally, my goal would be to house hack or BRRRR a two-flat/ three-flat that's no more than a 30 min drive to Streeterville. I've seen Garfield Park and Cicero mentioned a few times here and those areas definitely look appealing to me.


Aside from real estate, if anyone has recommendations on pizza places to try please don’t hesitate to tell me! Looking forward to hearing back from everyone!

[Tom Casey]

Hey Ben!

House hacking in Chicago is a great way to break into the market. If you're looking to stay no more than 30 minutes from Streeterville with traffic, Cicero might be a stretch. East Garfield Park, Tri-Taylor, and United Center area are all up-and-coming neighborhoods right off of 290 where you can find some MFR buildings that pencil out numbers-wise. I'd also recommend keeping your eye on a few off of 55, like Heart of Chicago, McKinley Park, Pilsen, and Bridgeport. Also, a few good options in near south side neighborhoods such as Bronzeville, Kenwood, and Oakland.

Overall, Chicago is very block-by-block and you're going to have good and bad pockets in every neighborhood. I like where your thoughts are to avoid the exorbitant rents of downtown Chicago by househacking. But just remember to have realistic expectations on your initial margins/return. Even with a 3- or 4-unit, your tenants' rent will not cover all of your expenses (PITI + vacancy, maintenance, capex). You'll still be paying something like $1000-2000 for yourself. But that is a beautiful thing because once you move out and rent it out, it will at least breakeven and you will build your net worth immensely. Chicago is an awesome market to invest but you have to be willing to compromise on cash flow in the short term, especially if you have to be close to downtown.

Hope that helps and happy to talk more. Let's connect!