New to Real Estate · Milwaukee WI · Member since 2024 · 6 posts · 4 votes
Hello Everyone!
My name is Chelsea DiLuzio and I am new to BP, and investing. 2025 is a year of big moves—literally and figuratively—for me, and I’m excited to be here!
Originally from Spokane, WA, I recently relocated to Milwaukee, WI, to dive headfirst into real estate investing. My main focus is multi-family house hacking, but I’m open to other strategies as well.
I’ve always had a passion for real estate and decided to move to a market with strong rental potential and affordability. Right now, I’m in full research and networking mode—learning about Milwaukee’s neighborhoods, connecting with local investors, and exploring my first investment. I’m also looking for mentorship, partnerships, and apprenticeship opportunities to sharpen my skills and learn from those who’ve been there before.
If you’re an investor, agent, lender, or property manager in Milwaukee (or have experience with multi-family and house hacking), I’d love to connect! Any insights, advice, or local contacts would be greatly appreciated as I take this next step.
Looking forward to learning from and contributing to this community!
Hi and Welcome, this is an awesome community with a lot of support. Ask lots of questions and you will receive great insight from professionals! I am not in your area, but wish you the best of luck on this new journey!
Hi and Welcome, this is an awesome community with a lot of support. Ask lots of questions and you will receive great insight from professionals! I am not in your area, but wish you the best of luck on this new journey!
Hi and Welcome, this is an awesome community with a lot of support. Ask lots of questions and you will receive great insight from professionals! I am not in your area, but wish you the best of luck on this new journey!
My name is Chelsea DiLuzio and I am new to BP, and investing. 2025 is a year of big moves—literally and figuratively—for me, and I’m excited to be here!
Originally from Spokane, WA, I recently relocated to Milwaukee, WI, to dive headfirst into real estate investing. My main focus is multi-family house hacking, but I’m open to other strategies as well.
I’ve always had a passion for real estate and decided to move to a market with strong rental potential and affordability. Right now, I’m in full research and networking mode—learning about Milwaukee’s neighborhoods, connecting with local investors, and exploring my first investment. I’m also looking for mentorship, partnerships, and apprenticeship opportunities to sharpen my skills and learn from those who’ve been there before.
If you’re an investor, agent, lender, or property manager in Milwaukee (or have experience with multi-family and house hacking), I’d love to connect! Any insights, advice, or local contacts would be greatly appreciated as I take this next step.
Looking forward to learning from and contributing to this community!
Do you a price range you're targeting and are you looking for a turn-key property or something along the lines of a "fixer upper"?
Hello Jaycee, thank you! I am shooting for around the 240k range for a multifamily. A turn key would be great, but I am open to doing repairs along the lines of walls and flooring updates.
Hey @Chelsea DiLuzio, welcome to the BiggerPockets community! It's an amazing place to learn and grow in real estate. I’ve been involved in real estate investing for over 30 years, so if you ever have any questions or need guidance, feel free to reach out. I’d love to hear about your goals and what you’re hoping to achieve here. Let me know how I can help!
Welcome to BP Chelsea. The forums are a great way to connect and get answers to questions. I am an investor just about an hour north in Sheboygan. My wife and I get started in real estate 4 years ago. We are still relatively small with only 5 properties, 7 doors. Honestly I have loved it and we are working to continue to growing. While still small we have learned ALOT and would be willing to share all our information and answer any questions you may have. My wife and I come from a manufacturing leadership and project management background. We have worked hard to build up our systems to manage our business. We have created work instructions for every step of the process so we can maintain consistency in how we evaluate properties, communicate with tenants, market our properties, handle rent increases, manage property turnover, etc..... I would be happy to share with you as you look to get started. Obviously they are customized to what works for us but some our templates maybe helpful for you to modify for you. If you would like to connect just let me know. Good luck on getting started!
Welcome Chelsea. I have been investing in Racine, WI over the past few years. I'm very bullish on its future for real estate. Let's connect and I can tell you more about my journey. I'm in LA and don't intend to move, but I'll definitely keep investing there.
@Chelsea DiLuzio welcome to Milwaukee! House hacking is financially a no-brainer and no city in the US (including Chicago) has more duplexes than Milwaukee. The downside is that you have to share your home with a neighbor and since most of our duplexes are upper/lower configurations you will usually hear them a little - at least know when they are home. That said having the right tenant goes a long way. There are a few things to watch for: if you are a nurse and work night shifts and your tenant has kids that make some noise, it may not be a good situation. You can find a lot of information about Milwaukee real estate on YouTube including the most of the neighborhoods and also house hacking.
@Chelsea DiLuzio welcome to Milwaukee! House hacking is financially a no-brainer and no city in the US (including Chicago) has more duplexes than Milwaukee. The downside is that you have to share your home with a neighbor and since most of our duplexes are upper/lower configurations you will usually hear them a little - at least know when they are home. That said having the right tenant goes a long way. There are a few things to watch for: if you are a nurse and work night shifts and your tenant has kids that make some noise, it may not be a good situation. You can find a lot of information about Milwaukee real estate on YouTube including the most of the neighborhoods and also house hacking.
Thank you Marcus! I have watched a couple of your YouTube videos and found them extremely detailed and informative when it comes to the Milwaukee market and investing. Your approach to finishing the basements in order to extend the number of years a tenant stays in that unit makes perfect sense! Definitely something I will keep in mind for my first property.
@Chelsea DiLuzio welcome to Milwaukee! House hacking is financially a no-brainer and no city in the US (including Chicago) has more duplexes than Milwaukee. The downside is that you have to share your home with a neighbor and since most of our duplexes are upper/lower configurations you will usually hear them a little - at least know when they are home. That said having the right tenant goes a long way. There are a few things to watch for: if you are a nurse and work night shifts and your tenant has kids that make some noise, it may not be a good situation. You can find a lot of information about Milwaukee real estate on YouTube including the most of the neighborhoods and also house hacking.
Thank you Marcus! I have watched a couple of your YouTube videos and found them extremely detailed and informative when it comes to the Milwaukee market and investing. Your approach to finishing the basements in order to extend the number of years a tenant stays in that unit makes perfect sense! Definitely something I will keep in mind for my first property.
Hello Chelsea and welcome to Milwaukee. I work all over Milwaukee county for my day job and also have rentals for over 30 years. If you would like to connect or ask question, feel free to reach out...
Welcome to Milwaukee, Chelsea! House hacking is a smart way to get started, and Milwaukee has some great multi-family opportunities if you buy right. Since you’re in research mode, getting familiar with neighborhood-specific trends will be key, some areas have strong rental demand, while others can be trickier to manage.
Financing can make a big difference, and local lenders who understand house hacking and multi-family investing can sometimes offer more flexibility than big banks. Even if you plan to self-manage, having a solid property management contact early on is always a good move. Networking will also be huge in your journey. The Milwaukee REIA https://www.milwaukeereia.com/ and the Rental Property Association of Wisconsin https://rpawi.org/ are both great for connecting with experienced investors, lenders, and property managers. I’m a member of both, as well as an agent and investor, and they’ve been great resources.
Hope to meet you at an event soon and always happy to talk shop about the Milwaukee market or multi-family investing. Best of luck on the exciting journey ahead!
@Chelsea DiLuzio Welcome to our little Wisconsin Community on BP! Milwaukee County is a very diverse market! There's good areas and then there's..not so good. You definitely want to familiarize yourself with the city and county regulations regarding Fair Housing and rental properties. I'm not saying this to deter you, but there are some additional regulations I think everyone needs to know before they jump in.
I'll shoot you a DM as I am agent and such that works in the Milwaukee area. I'm also an investor but not in Milwaukee.
@Chelsea DiLuzio Welcome to our little Wisconsin Community on BP! Milwaukee County is a very diverse market! There's good areas and then there's..not so good. You definitely want to familiarize yourself with the city and county regulations regarding Fair Housing and rental properties. I'm not saying this to deter you, but there are some additional regulations I think everyone needs to know before they jump in.
I'll shoot you a DM as I am agent and such that works in the Milwaukee area. I'm also an investor but not in Milwaukee.
WARNING: Do Not Work with @Corina Eufinger as a Property Manager or Real Estate Agent
I strongly advise against hiring Corina for any property management or real estate services. Over months of working with her, I encountered severe issues, including:
Lack of Communication & Accountability – Corina ignored multiple emails for weeks or even months, providing misleading or vague responses instead of real updates. Basic inquiries about rent payments, tenant status, and property finances were either deflected or completely ignored.
Breach of Contract & Unethical Practices – Even after I informed her I was selling the property, she tried to list it for rent without my consent—seemingly to secure a tenant placement fee for herself. She blatantly lied about tenants moving out, only to later admit in an email that there had never been a tenant in the unit at all.
Failure to Collect Rent & Protect Owner Interests – She made what seemed to be no real effort to collect rent from tenants who consistently fell behind, leading to thousands in lost income. She also renewed leases of tenants that had been significantly behind on rent.
Disappeared for Months with No Backup Plan – Corina was unresponsive for over two months following the passing of her mother. While personal loss is difficult and understandable, running a business that directly impacts property owners requires a contingency plan. Instead, I was left without updates or access to critical information during that time.
Corina’s mismanagement, dishonesty, and carelessness not only caused me significant stress but also substantial financial loss. If you value transparency, accountability, and professionalism, stay far away from her services.
Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.
Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.
If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.
If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?
Similarly, if you put several Class D tenants in a Class A 4-plex, what do you think will happen to the property?
So, when investing in areas they don’t really know, investors should research the different property Class submarkets.
Here’s our OPINION for the Metro Detroit market (use as a template for your target area!) that we’ve learned in our 24 years, managing almost 700 doors across the Metro Detroit area, including almost 100 S8 leases:
Class A Properties: Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, 3-5 years for positive cashflow, but you get highest relative rent & value appreciation. Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% the more recent norm. Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 680+ (roughly 5% probability of default), zero evictions in last 7 years. Section 8: Rents are too high for the program and cash paying tenants are better overall.
Class B Properties: Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, decent amount of relative rent & value appreciation. Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% should be applied only if proper research done to support. Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 620-680 (around 10% probability of default), some blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 5 years Section 8: Rents are usually too high for the program.
Class CProperties: Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, high cashflow and at the lower end of relative rent & value appreciation. Can try to reposition to Class B, but neighborhood may impede these efforts. Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, but 15-20% should be used to also cover tenant nonpayment, eviction costs & damages. Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores of 560-620 (approaching 22% probability of default), many blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 2 years. Verifying last 2 years of rental history very important! Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability. Section 8: This is the Property Class S8 was designed for. Still need to screen S8 prospects though.
Class DProperties: Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with little, maybe even negative, relative rent & value appreciation Vacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages. Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560 (almost 30% probability of default), little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions. Verifying last 2 years of rental history and income extremely important to find the “best of the worst”. Section 8: All the S8 “gurus” promote putting S8 tenants into this Class of cheap properties to “get rich”. If only it was that easy!
Make sure you understand the Class of properties you are looking at and the corresponding results to expect.
Hey Chelsea, I’m originally from Washington too, and I actually lived in Milwaukee for 4 years during grad school! I know a fantastic real estate agent in the Milwaukee area who’s a top performer with tons of experience—we actually went to high school together. If you’re looking for someone to help you navigate the local market, feel free to reach out and I’d be happy to connect you! Best of luck with your multi-family house hacking journey, and let me know how I can assist.
My name is Chelsea DiLuzio and I am new to BP, and investing. 2025 is a year of big moves—literally and figuratively—for me, and I’m excited to be here!
Originally from Spokane, WA, I recently relocated to Milwaukee, WI, to dive headfirst into real estate investing. My main focus is multi-family house hacking, but I’m open to other strategies as well.
I’ve always had a passion for real estate and decided to move to a market with strong rental potential and affordability. Right now, I’m in full research and networking mode—learning about Milwaukee’s neighborhoods, connecting with local investors, and exploring my first investment. I’m also looking for mentorship, partnerships, and apprenticeship opportunities to sharpen my skills and learn from those who’ve been there before.
If you’re an investor, agent, lender, or property manager in Milwaukee (or have experience with multi-family and house hacking), I’d love to connect! Any insights, advice, or local contacts would be greatly appreciated as I take this next step.
Looking forward to learning from and contributing to this community!
Cheers,
Chelsea DiLuzio
Hi Chelsea:
Welcome to one of the most affordable rental markets in the US. Ive been a landlord for 30 years and have quite a few doors and experienced in Mulit family and commercial Real Estate. Feel free to reach out.
