First investment property in Union City, NJ

[Alex Kartalyan]

Hi All - My name is Alex and I am looking to make my first real estate investment purchase somewhere in Union City, NJ or the surrounding area. I work in Accounting in the city and have lived there the past 4 years. I am looking to buy a 2 bedroom condo in the range of 200-250k and live there for 6 months to a year before renting it out. Any suggestions, advice, or comments are appreciated. Thanks for all the help.

[Ajo George]

Hello Alex. I am from the area and live in a condo in North Bergen and also recently purchased a 2 family home that I am currently renting out. I suggest you buy a multi family instead of a condo and rent out one of the other units in the multi family. I purchased my condo years ago and although I love the space, in hindsight I should have purchased a multi family instead. Condo's get tricky if you want to refinance or even take out a HELOC. You have more control if you own the land and property outright.

If you are looking at a price range of 250K for a condo you can purchase a decent 2 family home for 400K. Assuming you put 20% down with the condo you will pay approx $1,850-2K in monthly mortgage payments (I factored in approx taxes and HOA dues etc). If you purchase a multifamily for 400K your monthly all in payment would be approx $2,500. Factor in a low end rental price point of $1500 for the extra unit, you will only pay approx $1K out of pocket! multi family seems like the smart way to go in my opinion. There are other things to consider but this is just my opinion. My advice is to go that route and have someone help pay your mortgage.