Aspiring buy and hold investor from NJ

[Tatiana Duarte]

Hello BP Land!

My name is Tatiana and I am new to Bigger Pockets. Currently residing in Northern NJ. I am a commercial interior designer for a global architecture firm and serve on the Young Leaders board for CoreNet, NJ.

Strange as it may be, I've wanted to be a landlord since adolescence— so be it. I'm looking for my first multi-unit property in South Jersey (as taxes are significantly lower there) and plan on managing the property myself. I can see myself making a move within 6 months.

Some points:
- I believe in leaving things better than you found them.
- I spend a lot of time wondering if it must be true that the less income in a neighborhood, more trash and graffiti are present. I'm into the idea that positive action can trigger positive reaction.
- I heart Lisa Philiips! She's smart, bad-***, and hugely inspiring.
- I've been listening to one BP podcast a day for about 2.5 months now.. going strong!

Looking forward to moving forward.

-Tatiana

[Odie Ayaga]

Welcome to BP @Tatiana Duarte! Where to start! I love your attitude and spunk I think you'll do well at this real estate game if you work at it! I'm glad @Natalie Vane chimed in because she knows her stuff so definitely listen to anything she might have to offer! 

First off, when you say you're interested in South Jersey do you have a specific area or counties in mind? I've lived in South Jersey all my life and I can tell you there are towns in further South Jersey I've never even heard of because Jersey as a whole is so stratified! As a flipper there are houses in my area north of Camden that I wouldn't flip, but could be decent buy and hold opportunities for prospective landlords with the River Line running through them and some job opportunities opening up in the area.

It's great you're consuming the podcasts as they've been a huge part of my education. I started at a rate something like that before ending up somewhere like 4 or 5 a day until I got through all of them. They're so packed with information and books I've lined my shelves with that it was worth it to accelerate my studies. I've listened to them all at least twice and many of them several times more than that. Check out the podcasts with @Darren Sager (who is awesome and invests in Jersey) and @Matt Faircloth and @Liz Faircloth who invest in the Trenton area and are also very kind and welcoming. Those would be #48, #88, and #203 respectively.

As far as books, I'm not a buy and hold investor, but one of the most revered suggestions for landlords on the podcast is Landlording on Autopilot. I've also heard good things about The Book on Managing Tenants by BP's own @Brandon Turner.

Lastly, check out www.biggerpockets.com/biz minimally to read about Keyword Alerts and how awesome they can be. Good luck to you!