All Forum Posts by: Morgan Van Ness

I've been coming across this same problem.  North side of Chicago is a hard area to work with without significant investment.

Been out of town for the last few, but still lurking online.  Hope to be back in September!

Let me know when you're ready to sell.  We're looking for something very similar to this in this neighborhood.  Would love to at least run the numbers.

Not sure if this adds any value or not, but as a long time renter, I check the freezer for an ice maker and the sink for a disposal in every unit that I rent.

I can't say it's a deal breaker for me, but it's something I look for.  If you pair a lack of an ice maker with an apartment sized fridge though, that's going to kill the kitchen.

Love me some Intelligentsia coffee!  Such good stuff!

Real estate aside, I'd be interested in chatting further about the coffee industry if you have a few moments.  Will shoot you a message.

Was a pleasure to meet everyone last week.  I'll be out of town this time around, but look forward to when I can make it next.

All about those tacos!

Makes sense.  It's fascinating to me.  I put a lot of value on location and definitely pay a premium for it.

My apologies if this is a stupid question, but something's been bugging me for the past few days and I can't seem to find an answer for it.

I've been renting 2-4 bedroom units in Chicago for the past 12 years and recently have moved towards buying a multi-unit place for House Hacking. Now I'm just getting started and have only looked at 10-20 properties on the MLS thus far, but EVERY single unit is charging rents FAR lower than I ever paid as a renter. Obviously there are several issues at play here, as not everything is a true apples-to-apples comparison and it's quite possible that many of these units are rented to family or long term renters, but the discrepancies are off by often $700-1200/mo. Is it possible that I've just been overpaying my entire life and don't have a true understanding of market value? Or do many landlords not put the effort in to bring their properties up to market rate?

Keep in mind I'm very new to this.  Would love someone to open my eyes a little further!

Market: Chicago, north side

Avg. Rents Seen for 2BR 1/2 bath: $700-1300

Avg. Rents Paid by Me: $1400-2500

Figured I'd throw an update out there since the ball is rolling.

1. Our landlord has decided to sell, which puts a bit of a wrench in our timeline as we need to find a place to live in the next 6-10 weeks, as well as start the house hacking search.  While this could be a blessing in disguise, we just don't have the free time this spring to merge the two ideas into one power-search.

2. Have spoken with both a realtor friend of mine with investment property experience and a lender who personally runs five income properties himself.  Ran the very basic numbers to get a sense of what we can afford.  As expected, we're going to have to do some searching to find a deal.  The Chicago market isn't cheap and we don't have maximum flexibility as getting to work and being social are both priorities for us.  Trying not to search for a unicorn though and stay grounded in reality.

Now it's time to begin the search in earnest!  We are excited!

For the last year, I've been browsing Chicago real estate and working hard to save up for a 20% down payment.  Just two weeks ago I was introduced to the concept of house hacking and absolutely love the idea.  As a result, I've spent the last two weeks reading the guides and listening to all of the podcasts about house hacking and finally have a basic understanding of the underlying math and the concepts.  I still have no idea what to look for in an actual property, but I'm excited to finally start understanding what the terms mean and how to do the calculations.

I've rented all over the north side for the past twelve years, never staying in one unit for longer than two years.  Did two tours in Old Town, twice in Lincoln Park, spent some time in Lakeview, and am currently in Roscoe Village.  Work full time in sales and am a remote employee.

My landlord is debating whether or not to put my unit up for sale this spring, so the time has come for me to start looking into what is next.  Ideally I'll re-sign for a third year (whoa) and tackle this in the spring when I have another year's savings under my belt, but I am prepared to move quickly if need be, much to the chagrin of my fiance who wants me to focus more on wedding planning.

Ultimately, the goal is to go slow and see how we take to the concept of landlording.  The first goal is to find a solid house-hack on the north side, ideally near the brown line.  We don't really have any ambitions of living for free at this point (obviously aren't opposed to it, but would rather stay realistic), but love the concept of having some support tackling a mortgage.  When we move out, we'd like it to be cash flow positive so we can start working on the next project.

I'm looking forward to learning from everyone here and getting this process started.  Other passions include skiing, BBQ, eating/drinking (craft beer/scotch consume a lot of my energies), and generally being near, on, or in water.

Cheers

-Morgan