Hey @Derek Famulari congrats--really exciting! I think those numbers look reasonable (assuming you are calculating cash flow with you living in one of the units). I believe I know the house and that's right on the border of Weehawken and Union City, so I think those rents are pretty good--may depend a little bit on the condition of the units (those rents would be high for Union City, but your proximity to Palisade Ave helps a lot, and also the Weehawken address). I've never had coin operated laundry in any property I own, but I do know, from friends who have, that it can a pain to service/keep operating (particularly if your tenants bring their friends over to use it)--so it may be that the revenue is not worth the cost of maintaining it.
I'm not sure if it's an actual short sale but, if it is, you should anticipate a *long* time for closing. A property I bought recently not too far from the house you're considering was a short sale and took something in the vicinity of 8 months to finally close, which I think was on the faster side since allegedly the bank had "preapproved" the short sale before the house was listed. That's probably the only negative I see to the owner being in a foreclosure situation--and if it's not a short sale, you won't have to worry about that (on the flip side, he or she will probably be motivated to accept any offer that they get, so that bodes well, but you may be, or may already be, competing with other offers).
Things I would be curious to know about: are all of the utilities separate? If not, the cost of utilities you'd need to pay should be factored into your assumptions (it'd be surprising, for example, if heat and hot water were separate for all units). If there is not separate electricity, I'd definitely factor in the cost of splitting that for whatever units don't have it, which may be somewhat high. For basement units (I'm assuming that one of the units is in the basement) I'd want to carefully look to see what the water issues are down there: is there a french drain or other system? Do they frequently get water down in the basement (like any obvious signs of this/mold)? If there are water issues that's potentially a big expense to fix--possibly you'll need to rip up the entire basement apartment and start again for it to be properly drained. Is the basement weird (like super low ceiling, bedrooms without windows, or they didn't properly divide the utility area from the apartment, etc.)? That might impact how much you'd get for rent in that unit, and potentially raise some legality issues (if the bedrooms don't have windows where, say, a fireman can enter and exit). Same is true for the top unit (is in an attic? Is the ceiling height OK? Weird bathroom? Bedrooms have access to fire escapes?).
For 3+ families it'd also be good to make sure they have a current green card (issued by the state of New Jersey sort of like a certificate of occupancy renewed every 5 years indicating that the building passes whatever requirements the state imposes). 3 story buildings with 3 units need to have a fire escape, exit signs, self-closing doors, etc.--if they have a green card this is usually a sign that they complied with all of the requirements the state imposes as of their last inspection date. In addition, though this is unlikely to be something you can figure out by walking through the building, make sure that Weehawken itself believes this is a 4 family--I've definitely seen occasions in Hudson County where a realtor or owner will advertise a building as whatever, but the city itself will see it differently (again often an issue with basement apartments). Not having a current green card is probably not a deal breaker (although you'd want to know why this didn't happen, and when the last one was issued), but having the city believe it is, say, a 3 or 2 family, certainly is (the effort you'll go through to convert this to a 4 family, if possible, will be a lot). Maybe one obvious one: does it actually look like a 4 family? (Normal kitchen and bathroom on every floor/unit with separate, keyed entrances to each unit)? It sounds like the home is vacant which suggests, possibly, that it was owner occupied--did they do anything that you'd have to undo to make it into a normal 4 family (and how extensive would those repairs be)? I've seen several 2 family homes used as 1 families that require basically building an entire unit on the second floor (kitchen etc) which is quite a big expense.
For pretty much any property in this area, you'd want to see if it's possible that they have an underground oil tank (abandoned or in use). If the building has gas heat then obviously they're not using oil for heating, but you can see if you see any odd, old looking pipes (not water, not gas, pretty narrow and often bent at less than 90 degree angles) going underground. You can also see if there are obvious signs that a tank was abandoned (filled with sand or foam) in the past--like a fill or vent pipe (wide pipes going vertically up) near the basement outside, or a weird circular depression about the size of a tin can top in the concrete usually in front of the house. Unless you have definitive evidence that an oil tank was removed in the past or was never underground, it's worth the money to get a company to do an oil tank sweep--an abandoned underground oil tank is usually a deal breaker if the seller is refusing to remove it, mostly due to the fact that the liability arising from it can be in the 10s or even 100s of thousands of dollars depending on the extent, if any, of oil leaks/contamination.
A lot of these things, though, are issues you can address after going under contract in your inspection process, and your inspector will look at lots of other things as well (is the roof OK? any weird electricity or plumbing issues/leaks? etc.). I don't think you should (nor will you have time, likely, given the activity of the market) to investigate much of any of these things before submitting an offer--and obviously your offer will be contingent on having a satisfactory inspection and resolving any issues or giving concessions. You might burn some human capital (like, frustrate your broker/banker/lawyer or the other side) if you go under contract then find something you don't like and don't buy... but obvious I'd prefer to do that than to buying a house with expensive or difficult issues.
I know from experience that FHA loans for 3+ family homes can be a little challenging (they have to meet a "self sufficiency" test, where the rents for the units have to substantiate the carrying cost of the property). This may not sound hard given the numbers you are quoting, but I've seen appraisers use crazy numbers for rental income, and at least two people I know of have had deals fall through because of it. Sellers are also sometimes warrying of taking FHA financing, particularly in the current local market when they are lots of buyers. If you're competing with other offers, you may have to overpay, possibly somewhat significantly, for the luxury of doing FHA. Maybe even more so if the sellers need to move right now--FHA loans typically take longer to close because of the heightened requirements on the property, and are more uncertain to close (if it doesn't pass the FHA appraisal/inspection, you're just not going to be able to buy the property). If I was the seller and had to move *now* I'd probably take an all cash offer, if possible, even $50k below ask just so I could get out of it. 203k might be an option if there are things wrong, like the roof is leaking or whatever, but again there's a fair amount of complexity involved that might delay the process. Obviously--it's well worth trying!
Best of luck! We have a local meetup group too as well mostly of BP members in Hudson County that you're welcome to attend (we're having a happy hour type event next week). Feel free to PM me for the information!
