I'm a newcomer here in NJ, but have been lurking for a couple of months. I have recently read every rental property related book I could get from my local library, and have been listening to as many podcasts as I can when commuting to and from work. I have always been interested in real estate, and began wanting to explore this investing route since I first got out of the military back in 2005. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately due to the housing collapse in the late 2000's, I never got past the "looking into it" phase. As of recently I have been looking more into it and definitely plan to begin investing in the next year or so. I am beginning a new job in the next few months as a tax accountant for a Big 4 firm, so I will wait until I finish my first year and stabilize my income before jumping wholeheartedly into rentals. It will be tough taking a pay cut, but it will offer a much higher upside than that of my current position as a Corrections Officer. 

I began running loosely the numbers on deals I find on various real estate sites as practice, and it is definitely difficult from what Ive been seeing so far in NJ with the outrageous property taxes and overall home prices. I would love to connect with any other investors, especially in the Ocean County area as well as south and west NJ, as I would like to stay generally close to home area when starting out so I can self manage my first property to learn hands on as much as I can. 

Originally posted by @Anthony Rizzo :

I'm a newcomer here in NJ, but have been lurking for a couple of months. I have recently read every rental property related book I could get from my local library, and have been listening to as many podcasts as I can when commuting to and from work. I have always been interested in real estate, and began wanting to explore this investing route since I first got out of the military back in 2005. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately due to the housing collapse in the late 2000's, I never got past the "looking into it" phase. As of recently I have been looking more into it and definitely plan to begin investing in the next year or so. I am beginning a new job in the next few months as a tax accountant for a Big 4 firm, so I will wait until I finish my first year and stabilize my income before jumping wholeheartedly into rentals. It will be tough taking a pay cut, but it will offer a much higher upside than that of my current position as a Corrections Officer. 

I began running loosely the numbers on deals I find on various real estate sites as practice, and it is definitely difficult from what Ive been seeing so far in NJ with the outrageous property taxes and overall home prices. I would love to connect with any other investors, especially in the Ocean County area as well as south and west NJ, as I would like to stay generally close to home area when starting out so I can self manage my first property to learn hands on as much as I can. 

 Hello and welcome! Best of luck to you! 

Hi Anthony,

Welcome to BP. My husband and I are also looking to make the jump from lurker to actual investor after years of research.

We used to live in Jersey, but we are looking to invest in NC. If you haven’t already, definitely check out the member search feature on the site. It’s a great way to find people to build your network. So far, I have found everyone to be extremely willing to help. It’s really an invaluable community.

All the best in your investing!

Regards,

Rajaa

@Anthony Rizzo

Welcome to BP.

Welcome to BP, let me know if you need an accountant's insight on the Tri-State area. 

This is a such a great community to be part of. Everyone is willing to help and share knowledge they've acquired along the way. Welcome to BP @Anthony Rizzo . Best of luck !

Thank you for the warm welcome. Just wondering if looking in my own backyard, being so expensive and having such high property taxes, is really a better idea than out of state investing? I like the idea of turn key, but the cash flows from what I have seen tend to be rather low. Is it even possible to manage properties out of state effectively? How does one even begin to invest out of state and start building a team to manage those properties profitably? The advantage of looking in my own back yard is that I would be able to do the smaller repairs and then use local connections via family and friends to do the bigger projects like plumbing, electrical, roofing, etc. I obviously wouldnt have those kind of connections out of state and do not even know where to begin.

@Anthony Rizzo So what I hear you saying that is you would trade off positive cash flow and ROI for the ability to do small repairs and use local connections in your own backyard. This makes no sense. Treat it as a business and make business decisions based on your investment goals and objectives. If you can't reach your financial goals in your local market then you have no choice but to go outside of your market or not invest in real estate at all. The last thing you want to do is to sub otimize your returns just for the sake of investing locally. No, it's not possible to effectively manage properties from out of state but that's why good, trust worthy property managers is so important? The biggest challenge you will find with investing out of state is unfamiliarity with the neighborhoods. The mistake that a lot of new out of state investors make is buying in the wrong areas but that can be overcome by spending some time to get to know know various neighborhoods and which ones to avoid. A lot of people successfully invest out of state but it takes working with the right people.

Hey Anthony, welcome to BP. You will certainly learn alot over the next year so you do things right the first time

Welcome @Anthony NJ can be tough to invest in but also very possible and potentially profitable.  Best of luck

@Anthony Rizzo undefined

Welcome to BP @Anthony Rizzo !