I'm actually an hour south of Newark in central Jersey I'm looking for advice.

[Brandon Stanberry]

What is the typical downpayment on a house hacking property in my area or how can I find out? I'm at about 100k in savings looking to start buying mid way through 2026 as I'll be at around 150-180k in savings i want to atleast hold on to 40k-50k still in saving and also will be a first time homebuyer so I qualify for a grant I think. My wife and I want to be able to put down 150k as a downpayment is that too much and should we just be looking to buy our main residence with that high a downpayment? Honestly we just want to afford the house we live in. Or start with house hacking which will afford us to eventually have our own home together before taxes and medical and so on we clear 200k a year. 🤔 

[JooYung Choi]

Hey Brandon,

You have plenty of capital to start your search now. Personally, I don't like to do 20% down for a house hack but rather 5-10% and use the remainder to renovate the home. You'd be able to force equity and if done correctly, you'd probably be sitting at 20% equity and drop that PMI anyway. The key for investing in New Jersey lies with the appreciation. You aren't going to find incredible cash flow (unless you MTR). I am willing to bet that in 7-10 years, even if you did nothing to the property other than maintain, you would be sitting on a lot of equity.

Best of luck!