New investor in NJ

[Chris Ragazzo]

Just wondering what areas on central/northern NJ are offering reasonable buy and hold opportunities?  Seems like a lot of the market is overpriced.

[Johnathan Boyle]

@Nauman Shah I think of Newark as any large city. There are good parts and bad parts. As in another thread, you mostly want to look at properties in the North ward, Ironbound, and west parts of Newark. However, past those areas, you might want to look street by street and actually drive some of them and see them during the day and night to see how you feel about them. As a former Marine, I find myself to be more risk-taking when I look at areas, but I do not know your temperament. I do agree with @Account Closed that it may be more difficult to handle Newark rent control ordinance, but if you partner up with someone that has experience for the first deal or 2, I do not see you having much trouble. Also, Newark is the only city I know that has such low taxes and prices on homes so you can basically take it as a learning experience and not lose your shirt compared to many other towns in NJ. Next, I don't know many areas where you can invest approx. $120k-$150k, taxes approx. $5-6k a year and have a 3 family in which you can earn around $3000-3600 a month in rent. Of course, in those areas, you would be more inclined to work with section 8 as well. Disclaimer: I do not own a property in Newark just yet (working on that as we speak), but I do know about half a dozen investors who own in Newark and have shown me it is worth taking a look at.