Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Buy a multi-unit


The Chicago Tribune Real Estate section ran a story about buying multi-unit buildings for investment. The gist is, rents are pretty good again so multi-units offer a good way to invest in real estate. Several local real estate heavyweights were tapped for advice (somehow I must have missed that call).

I was pleased to read this advice... if you are not handy and will not do the work, it will be hard to make the numbers work on the investment. Everyone with real estate dream forgets this little fact. Also, unless your planning to leverage more than 20% in Chicago, it will be tough to make the numbers work for two or three flats. The focus was on 5 plus units in the suburbs for today's investor and market.

The two flat is still a great choice for moving to an area you may like in Chicago. A renter can still help you qualify for the property and you have the option to convert or expand the property in the future. For instance, convert to a single family or duplex- up and duplex- down the units to increase rents and value of the property.

For income, the more units the better... and buy it in the suburbs.

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