Flipping Houses In Chicago (rent, buying, live in)

[nicole1915]

I am sick of paying rent and am looking to buy a place that needs some work, fix it up, put it on the market all while live in it. I am trying to decide a location and price range that is best for this.

From what I see the cheaper stuff (100-200) moves the fastest but not sure on location. I am open to any suggestions...(lakeview, more south is definitly an option)...of course if I love the place I could stay 5 years and probably make much more money on it or rent it out but I am leaning toward the flipping idea knowing that I wont sell it on one month but its not the end of the world since I am paying monthly payments toward something more worth it than rent!!!

Thank you for any insight!!!!

[aragx6]

You couldn't pick a worse time to try and flip something in Chicago.

[mdz]

And what if your "investment" declines in price? We've learned this year that housing prices don't always go up in the short term.

[j33]

With this current market? That is a bad, bad idea.

[nicole1915]

thank you for comments......i am reading this more and more......if I keep it 4 or 5 years would you say its a better investment???

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by nicole1915

thank you for comments......i am reading this more and more......if I keep it 4 or 5 years would you say its a better investment???

As long as you're not expecting a huge return. The increase in housing prices the last 10 years was far above the typical increase in value. There's a much stronger chance that in 5 years, your homes value will be the same or lower than it having any significant increase in value.

Take a look at this graph which illustrates historical housing prices since 1890. It might dissuade you from any get rich quick dreams by flipping houses. Those days are over.

http://www.investingintelligently.co...ome_values.png

On edit, if you're in a good position to take on the mortgage, and you plan on staying in this house for at least 5 years, then it's a good investment as you'll be building equity and not just throwing away rent money. Just don't go into this with any notion of flipping it.

[Lookout Kid]

What size place are you looking for? In that $100K-200K range, you'd be looking at a one-bedroom even in the northernmost sections of Lakeview.

You should probably be prepared to stay in a place for five years before buying anything. With this market, five years may not even be enough time to fully recover from the price peaks in 2006! "Flipping" is definitely risky right now, unless you find a place with a really really depressed price.