Little Village Chicago

[Brittney Carstarphen]

Hello, I am currently looking for my first deal with plans to house hack. I've come across the Little Village area of Chicago as a potential starting point for investing. What are your thoughts on the area? Is it appreciating or do you expect appreciation? Is it wise to invest in the area?

[Matthew Olszak]

Originally posted by @Dan S.:

Hi Brittney, 

Did you buy already? I am looking in little village for a 2-4 unit, non-house-hack. I think the taxes (low) and the crime (moderate, low during the day) and closeness to the city and pilson make it a good place to buy rentals. I talked to some landlords, looked at rental ads, even posted a few of my own test ads, it looks like there is good demand for 2bed 750 un-renovated, 800-850 renovated, 900+ sparkling (stainless appliances, parking, laundry, maybe modern floor plans,etc). but I dont know if these are good renters (of if all responders would fail credit check & check for evictions) I'd *love* to hear other landlords experience of renting in Little Village

 Hi Dan - I manage a number of units in Little Village and the area is pretty much my main focus on the buy/sell side as well. Your rent estimates are dead-on. While you can get more than $900, the extra difference will get chewed up quick in vacancy while you are looking for the few people who will pay that much. My 2br/1ba units I put on the market recently rented within 2 weeks @ $800/mo + deposit, very basic updates, and no appliances. Large bedrooms and kitchen will command a big premium and can justify the $900+ rent much better than fancy finishes will.

The tenants you get will depend greatly on what area of Little Village you are renting in. There are some specific 3x3 block areas I suggest avoiding, but as a general rule if you are within 2 blocks on an elementary school the demand will be high from quality candidates. Many applicants lack credit all together, no good or bad, so rigid credit guidelines like 650 minimum score will kill your applicant pool. The application review process will take a lot more creativity as well. I don't have any issues finding tenants w/ 2.5-3x income-to-rent. Overall, vacancy is very low, units are quick to rent, and turnover is low - all of that of course assuming market rents and not pricing the rental super-high. I do come across a number of garbage applicants each time but that's not specific to LV, they're everywhere.