All Forum Posts by: James B.

First time homebuyer 

22yo Male 

Currently trying to source my first house hack - where did you find your first deal?

I’m in the Chicago area, I wouldn’t mind if I had to cover up to $1,000.00 of the mortgage. 

A top priority is proximity to the downtown area given I don’t want to drive to work. 

Current stats:

Credit 750+ with a good mix of credit cards, student loans, and auto loans. 

Income: $70,000-$80,000 

Total monthly expenses (vehicle+ Student loan min payments) $750

Based on this I am looking for something in the $275,000-$400,000 range

Where would you look?

@Brie Schmidt so what do young investors do with not a whole lot of cash available for a down payment?

@Brie Schmidt loan limits for conventional mortgage? What about if it was house hacked? 

I guess that’s my other option. A place that was house hacked with at minimum, all expenses covered. 

@Brie Schmidt I really like the near west side, but the east of Western properties are expensive. Ukrainian village is all new construction it seems like. 

Ideally I want a decent location not too far from the loop. Cash flow, easy to rent, minor rehab work is fine think: ~$20-30k (painting, trim, minor things). I want it cash flowing immediately as appreciation isn’t promised. I want to use the income to save for the next one and so on. I wouldn’t mind a value add rehab with a minimal budget to cash out refinance.   

@DavidZheng can you weigh in?

 A traditional financed deal with 10-20% down, cash flowing, minor rehab would be fine. For my first deal I don’t want anything major.

I want to invest in the Chicago market, but it seems so expensive to find a good duplex, triplex, 4plex.

Does anyone have any suggestions how to go about securing a good solid first deal?

I will be graduating college shortly and I will work a few years to build savings, credit, etc to make the venture into RE investing.

What should I aim for?  

How much capital is required?

What types of loans should I look at first?

What credit score is required?

I'd love to house hack, until then, I'll probably rent, unless of course it's feasible to buy a house after just 6 months or so of work.  

Any advice is appreciated.  I am looking to go the buy and hold route and reinvest the cash flows.  Later on, take on a rehab, and so forth.  For now, I want to focus the next few years on nailing the basics!

@Lumi Ispas see ^

Yes, I want to learn as much as possible between now and then.  I forgot to ask this in my initial post, what are the best tools, books, videos, any resources out there to learn about this?