Chicago Housing Inventory

The city of Chicago and the surrounding Chicago suburbs is an incredible place to invest. The market is dynamic, offers many different sub markets for investors, and has incredible housing inventory. Of course, if you want to invest in Chicago you do have to overcome the language barrier in the 2-4 unit space. Here in Chicago, we don't have duplexes, triplexes and quads. We have two flats, three flats and four flats! Having grown up in the area, to this day I have no idea why we use different words than the rest of the country, but if you are going to be a true Chicago investor you have to adopt the lingo. Despite our odd propensity for using our own words for 2-4 units, Chicago is probably one of the very best places to house hack in the USA!

The Chicago area has over 1 million rental units available. This means that as an investor, you have a LOT of options to choose from! Investors have the option to choose sub markets in the Chicago MSA for appreciation, cash flow, or a mixture of the two within a very short distance from the down town. Even in a tighter market like we find ourselves in here in 2020, investors in Chicago still have an unbelievable amount of inventory to choose from. This is especially apparent compared to many of the secondary and tertiary markets throughout the Midwest. There really are very few places in the US where you can find more opportunities to buy rental properties than Chicago.

In addition to the sheer volume of rental properties available, Chicago also has incredible building stock. Most of the properties are brick or stone construction, and many of them have incredible timeless character that will allow them to stand out for decades to come. Chicago investors can often times purchase grey stones from the early 1900's like this stunning property in Lincoln Park: 

They also get to purchase purpose built properties from just after World War 1 like this jumbo style three unit.

There also is an incredible amount of mid-century modern properties available from just after World War 2 like this three unit property in Berwyn:

Or check out this beautiful 1950's four unit: 

The Chicago building stock is truly special, and it is hard not to get excited about living in a beautiful property with tons of character and charm!

The last reason why Chicago is such a great place to house hack is that the main down town area, the Loop, is easily accessible from dozens of great Chicago neighborhoods that each have their own distinct style. House hackers will love investing in the Chicago market as house hacking requires an investor to balance the desire for cash flow with the standard of living expectations they may have. This can be a huge problem in many markets as all of the multifamily units are in areas that are not desirable to live in. The opposite is true here in the Chicago market as two flats and three flats are an inherent part of the Chicago housing stock! 

With dozens of neighborhoods with distinct styles, there are many great options for mixing your investing with your lifestyle design. There is no need to sacrifice your quality of living here. An investor can choose to live and invest on the north side by Wrigley Field, or in south side neighborhoods near the soon to come Obama Library! Want something a little more suburban? Hop on Chicago's distinctive "L" train, and you can be in the burbs in less than 20 minutes. Food, architecture, sports, theater, schools and more can all be had while building your nest egg!

There is no doubt that Chicago is one of the very best places to house hack in the USA. With a vast inventory of properties, fabulous buildings stock, unique neighborhoods and great public transit, Chicago is a great place to house hack!