Investing in Kenosha - first time buyer from Chicago
Hi there!
I'm brand new to the BP forums but happy to be here. I am 25-years-old and looking for my first real estate deal so that I can get the ball rolling towards financial freedom. I would like my first deal to be close to home so that I can be more involved in the process of going to look at properties, but I live in Chicago and am not too excited by the real estate market here given that the supply is increasing (lots of new construction), the demand is decreasing (city population declining) and Illinois is just going down the tubes financially (some would argue that the state is already way down the tubes). As such, I was looking at some cities relatively close to Chicago so that I could get out there to take a look at some properties on a free weekend. I saw that Kenosha was experiencing a pretty nice trend in rental rate increases and thought that it could be a good place to start. A few questions for all you smart folks out there:
1) What do people know about investing in the Kenosha area? I've done a bit of reading from some other BP posts and it seems like I just need to be careful on the exact area due to crime rates but any other insights?
2) Do people have any good property managers that they use/have used in that area? Although I am looking for a property close-ish to home I don't know that I want to be going out there frequently to manage it.
3) If I'm looking for a bank to finance a loan should I be looking in the state in which I live or the state in which I'm investing?
4) Any other tips for someone looking to invest out of state? Things I need to watch out for?
I look forward to the advice and insights! Thanks so much!
-Michael