New York/NJ house hacking feasible?

[Harris J.]

Hi, with a job that has offices both in the financial district of Manhattan and White Plains NY, I am pretty open on where I can live. Whether it’s jersey city or anywhere in Westchester county.

Originally I was going to rent there and invest in the mid-west. However, I wanted to look more into house hacking, and NJ was interesting. There’s many duplexes and 3plexes in Bergen-Lafayette that could work. And Westchester along the metro North also has some options.

Could someone tell me more my options in this area? Do tenant laws make it a headache to deal with compared to other areas? Once I move out Is cash flow possible, or at least to where rent covers some funds for maintenance/vacancy? I want to try and somewhat limit out of pocket expenses where possible.

I’d likely stay in the duplex 1-2 years to benefit from the lower down payment and then move out either into another multi family purchase or rent in a more desirable area in NY/Jersey City. 

[Shawn Mcenteer]

Hi @Harris J. when running the numbers if house hacking is done right repeating what works this strategy will absolutely blow mid-west OOS investing out of the water.  

Tenant laws can be a pain if you do not know how to navigate them. Believe it or not as wacky as NJ can be with laws we are very favorable with owner occupant laws.

Cash flow is absolutely possible! I have clients purchasing house hack deals each month that are cash flowing/will be once they move out.  

Out of pocket expenses come down big time with house hacking, 3.5% down loan in some case closing costs paid for. 

Moving property to property house hacking is how my wife and I got to Fi you can do it as well, there are plenty of us doing it in todays market. 

I have a youtube channel dedicated to house hacking in New Jersey, new videos come out each week. Most of the questions you are asking I answer on the channel but always happy to dive deeper with one on one call.