Hello bigger pockets! Im new here and recently broke into real estate with my first duplex (FINALLY!!!!!) So I’m located in central New Jersey I own 1 duplex which my wife and I moved into in Elizabeth NJ... we have some capital for maybe 2 or 3 homes 20-25% down.. WHERE !?? Is the big question we can’t seem to decide on... my area is just way to pricey and my wife and i are trying to maximize cash flow. Any suggestions? I would love to buy again in Elizabeth but do I put my first few eggs in the same basket? Not sure if that’s a good idea? Also PA vs NJ ???? Can we discuss? Any feed back would help!! Thank you !
@Cristian Grullon Nice job! I have also been checking out the Elizabeth, linden, Cranford, etc areas. Where in PA are you thinking ? Would you manage yourself or hire a PM? The drive to PA from Elizabeth might be far. PM me if you want to talk further, my fiancé and I looked around in the Elizabeth area last weekend
Investor · Tampa, FL · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
7y
@Cristian Grullon investing in NJ is not known for it's high cash flow. What NJ (at least the northern part) gives you long term is good cash flow along with appreciation. Now my friend @Ben Leybovich used to tout cash flow being king, but I think I wore away at him to understand the attributes of making sure you have appreciation so that what you put into the property will actually provide you value long term. If you're generally in a high cash flow area, it means that the property values don't go up much over time. So despite you having the same capex that all properties do when they come up, you'll be taking the cash flow you made and putting it right back into the property that doesn't increase in value. So what's the point?
NJ will give you a good blend of both cash flow and appreciation, because it's a long term saturated market. And it leans to the left politically. What that means are strict zoning laws which don't allow people to change the status quo in a town, preserving it's long term appeal.