New to House Hacking - in Chicago!

[Diego Villasenor]

Hello BP Community!

After recently graduating from DePaul University , I'll  be starting my new consulting job in the Windy City! Instead of renting, I've decided to take upon House Hacking after learning upon this method during my final year at uni.

I'm set to close early September on a 4bath 2 bath property in Pilsen! Thankfully I'm taking advantage of the Cook County 25k down payment assistance program so my cash due at closing would only be roughly 9k! Only contingency is that this home would have to be my primary residence for five years or else it would have to be repaid.

For those in the Chicago market, what are some tips you would offer me for a newbie real estate investor? Any recommendations for a good contractor / general repairman? What are some of the real estate meetups in Chicago I could attend? 

last thing to note is that it is my American Dream to achieve financial freedom! So mainly invest in stocks but do want real estate in my portfolio, would it be wise to hold off on future deals till after this five year period where rates hopefully would be lower and more deals pencil out ?

thank you for any advice & feel free to dm me or add me on LinkedIn!

[Ian Ciborowski]

Hi Diego! I'm relatively new as well, I got a real estate agent buddy who graduated from DePaul! I'm curious where the 5 year contingency came from, the down payment assistance? Also, https://www.qualitybuilders.com/chicagos-real-estate-investor-meetups has some good Chicago meet ups.