Brian H.

I grew up in Toledo, OH, and went to school for architecture at the University of Cincinnati. I spent some time overseas, and then ended up in Chicago, where I've been for the last nine years or so. I'm interested not only in buildings, but also in urban design and community development. I'm passionate about creative, and social impact design, and spend a lot of my extra time in these arenas. Real estate investing seems like a natural extension of those things and of my personal and financial goals. I'm excited to get involved in the BP community! Experience: I'm a licensed architect (in IL), and have been working in the field in various capacities for the last 15+ years. I've also worked traditional construction doing condo conversions and small projects (in Cincinnati and the Chicago area), and done non-traditional earth building (in Guatemala and the Chicago area). Additionally, I've worked with local communities on understanding property issues and how to best deal with them. Real Estate Goals: A 3 or 4 flat to live in! I'd like to start off by doing some house-hacking, and use that as a way to get my feet wet and better understand real estate transactions (my knowledge of buildings far exceeds my knowledge of finances). I'm still working out what happens after that, but I think it involves some buy and hold of multi-family, and/or some 1-2 flat flipping. Currently Seeking: Mentor, Real Estate Agent, Attorney and CPA recommmendations. I'm currently looking for a 3 or 4 flat in decent shape - hopefully meaning medium renovation and systems work, plus cosmetics at the most. I was initially looking for a 3 or 4 flat (or a 3 that can be converted to a 4) for a gut-rehab, but I think a smaller project would be better to get my feet wet with.