New to Real Estate · Aurora, IL · Member since 2025 · 2 posts · 6 votes
Hello everybody, I am in my early 20s and excited to immerse myself in the world of real estate. The next year my goal is to absorb as much as I can from immersive learning opportunities and the experience of others, prepping for my first house hack (hopefully in 2026!). I am located in IL and would love to connect and start learning with any other new investors, or to that note, anybody at all haha.
Welcome! Starting with a house hack is such a solid move. I’m also learning and connecting with other investors, and it really helps having people to bounce ideas off of. Excited to see how your journey goes!
Hi! It is such an exciting time to be looking for your first investment opportunity! A house hack is the perfect way to start your investment. I have worked with a few clients here in San Antonio that have done the same. A duplex is a great place to start because there is less maintenance involved having 2 units versus having more. Good luck!
Welcome! Starting with a house hack is such a solid move. I’m also learning and connecting with other investors, and it really helps having people to bounce ideas off of. Excited to see how your journey goes!
Welcome, Zachary! Great to see you jumping in early and thinking long-term, that mindset will take you far.
House hacking is one of the best entry points into real estate, especially if you're planning ahead like this. Being in Aurora, you’ve got access to solid opportunities in the western suburbs and even areas closer to Chicago with strong rental demand.
Keep soaking up knowledge, run the numbers often, and start building relationships now. The connections you make today can open doors when you're ready to take action in 2026.
Feel free to reach out anytime, always happy to help along the way.
The Real Estate Crash of 2008-2010 caused real estate prices to crash across the country - but didn't affect rent amounts. This caused a historically unique opportunity for investors - they could buy Class A properties and immediately cashflow when renting them out.
This couldn't last forever, and it didn't, as excited new investors drove up prices.
Eventually, Class A property values increased to the point that even increasing rents didn't allow them to cashflow upon purchase.
So, the flood of new investors switched to buying Class B properties.
COVID created a chaotic spike in both the sale & rental markets, attracting even more new real estate investors. According to CoreLogic, in December of 2023, almost 30% of home sales were to investors!
Investment also spiked in Class A Short-Term Rentals (STR) and investors started paying higher and higher prices based upon anticipated STR rental rates, that exceeded sustainability based upon Long-Term Rental rates (LTR).
Now we're seeing investors pouring money into buying Class C rentals - but, many are getting burned.
In our experience & opinion, the main determinant of property Class is not location or even property condition, those are #2 and #3. The #1 determinant is the Tenant Pool.
If you don't believe us, try putting several Class D tenants in Class A apartment buildings and watch what happens. Or try the reverse - rehab a Class D property to Class A standards and try to get a Class A or B tenant to rent it.
Unfortunately, many newbie real estate investors are jumping into buying affordable Class C rentals - expecting Class A results.
In our opinion, Class C tenants have FICO scores from 560 to 620 - where their chance of default/nonpayment is 15-22%. See the chart from Fair Isaac Company (FICO) below:
According to this chart, investors should use corresponding vacancy + tenant-nonperformance factors of approximately 5% for Class A rentals, 10% for Class B and 20% for Class C.
To address Class C payment challenges, many industry "experts" are now selling programs to newbie investors about how Section 8 tenants are the cure. If only it was that easy. Yes, the government pays the Section 8 rent timely, but more and more tenants are having to pay a portion of their rent. Then there are the challenges with Section 8 tenants paying utilities and taking care of their rental property.
Investors should fully understand that Section 8 is not a cure-all for Class C & D tenant challenges, it's just trading one set of problems for another.
We see too many investors not doing enough research to fully understand all this and making naïve investing decisions.
Once you understand the above, you still need to find a property. You’ll have to do what investors did before the Great Real Estate Crash:
Evaluating 100 properties, to identify 10 to make offers on, in the hopes one seller accepts.
- Yes, this takes a lot of work!
Network with wholesalers who can bring you “deals”
- Many wholesalers are also newbies who have no clue what a real deal is and are just time-wasters.
NOTE: We often see wholesalers re-marketing MLS properties at HIGHER amounts!
Start using your own personal network to find motivated sellers.
- Start posting on your favorite social media site what you are looking for – not once or twice, but CONSISTENTLY for 6 months! Give updates on properties you’ve looked at or analyzed to keep your audience engaged, so when they stumble upon a potential situation, you are the first one they think of.
Welcome! House hacking is a great way to get started & build your portfolio. I've house hacked four times in the Chicago area so if you have any questions feel free to PM me.
Hello everybody, I am in my early 20s and excited to immerse myself in the world of real estate. The next year my goal is to absorb as much as I can from immersive learning opportunities and the experience of others, prepping for my first house hack (hopefully in 2026!). I am located in IL and would love to connect and start learning with any other new investors, or to that note, anybody at all haha.
It’s amazing that you’re so young in your early 20s and already looking into house hacking! It’s the best way to get into real estate and you can build a sizable portfolio just by househacking one property per year. I’ve househacked condos, single family homes, and multi-unit properties since 2017 and getting ready to househack my current home how. Feel free to reach out anytime to discuss!
Get involved with any investors who can mentor you, and also obtain your real estate license. Especially being in Naperville, you are in the vicinity of the seventh-largest Real Estate association in the nation. Not the Chicago Association of Realtors, but the Mainstreet Association of Realtors located in Downers Grove. They host some pretty great classes and networking events to meet other like-minded individuals. I have made a ton of connections with other agents, investors, and affiliates (attorneys, lenders, inspectors, etc) who you will be able to utilize in future dealings. Even if you have no desire to act as a Realtor, it is worth considering if you are planning to invest in the future. In my opinion!
What's going on @Zachary Overstreet from Aurora! I'm from Aurora's sister city, Elgin, on the NW side of Chicago, but live and work primarily in the city.
Highly recommend checking out some of the local meetups throughout the chicagoland area. Here are some that are posted on BP: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521
I'd just remove the word "hopefully" from your post and commit to house hack in 2026 ;-) Happy to help and guide you any way we can.
Since you’re looking to buy in Chicago, one thing I’d definitely recommend exploring is the FHA 203(k) loan program. A lot of properties here need some level of work—sometimes it’s just cosmetic upgrades, other times it’s mechanicals or kitchens/baths. A 203(k) loan lets you finance the purchase price and the cost of the improvements all in one mortgage.
This is a great way to get into a property that might be priced below market because it needs updates AND potentially increase the property’s value and rents from day one.
Welcome to the journey! 🙌 You’re doing it exactly right, starting early, focusing on learning, and connecting with others. House hacking is one of the best entry points into real estate, especially here in Illinois where you can still find solid multi-units that make the numbers work.
A couple quick tips while you prep:
• Start talking to local lenders early (some offer low-down-payment options for 2–4 units).
• Network with local investors, check out meetups in Chicago, northwest burbs, or BiggerPockets Illinois threads.
• Use the next year to analyze deals weekly so you build your “numbers instinct” before you buy.
If you ever want to bounce ideas or look at sample deals together, happy to connect and help you think through it. Welcome aboard! 🚀
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