Househacking multifamily for Newbie in New Jersey

[Betty Xin]

Hello! 

My name is Betty and I’m a brand new aspiring real estate investor. I’m so thankful to have found the BP community. Nice to meet you all!

My boyfriend and I have been looking to settle down and purchase a home. At the same time, we hope to get started in real estate investing.

After listening to various BP podcasts and doing some research, it seems like our most viable option is to house hack a multifamily (duplex/triplex). We hope to have the privacy of our own homes while renting out the other units.

We moved to New Jersey recently, and are currently living in Union township. We are very new to New Jersey and real estate market. Are there any guidance or advice you could share with us in terms of:

1. Are there any preferable areas for multifamily investing in NJ? We are currently looking at any location that’s close to transportation to NYC since one of us work in the city and thought this could attract high-quality tenants (eg. white collars working in NYC).

2. If you house hack or invest in multifamily, what is the demographic of your tenants? We are having a hard time defining what type of tenants would be most inclined to rent in a multifamily.

3. Based on my research thus far, most multifamily properties are old and run-down. Does most multi-family require a lot of up-front rehab? 

4. If you own a multi-family, what are the long-term appreciation of this type of property? Does it appreciate at a slower pace relative to a single-family?

Lastly, is there a real estate agent you recommend? We currently do not have an agent and really hope to find an experienced agent to work with. 

If there’s any advice or resources you could share, that’s much appreciated!!

Thank you so much for your kind guidance!