All Forum Posts by: Lloyd Preece

Hi team, I'm looking to add a 3rd property to my portfolio this year and identified the Lehigh Valley as a good location to expand to. I'm currently house hacking in Weehawken, NJ (Working in NYC) and looking for a small Multifamily(~200k) buy and hold rental next. Lehigh Valley seems attractive due to Price to Rent ratios, significantly lower taxes than NY/NJ, geographic proximity to NYC/Philly, jobs in area (Amazon warehouses, fedex etc). Have also read good things about the downtowns of the likes of Bethlehem, but its difficult to narrow down neighborhoods without knowing the area too well. Looking for recommendations on neighborhoods to dive deeper into within the area in that price range, as well as connections and general advise from those who have invested in the area. Would appreciate any help!

Just to circle back on this, I ended up closing in January on a 2 bedroom condo house hack in a Weehawken building with low HOA but a seemingly good balance sheet. My logic of a condo over SFH or MFH was affordability, location (still 30 minute door to door to my Manhattan office) and trying to walk before running as it was first property. Whilst certainly not living for free, my housing payment cut in half compared to my previous rent so it provides a vehicle to accelerate savings for the next one. I then closed on a SFH rental in England and now looking to stack up to a buy and hold rental small MF in Pennsylvania or other areas of NJ.

All that being said, i did see a lot of Multifamilies with my BP agent in the Journal Square, UC and West New York areas. For properties not requiring a ton of work you're looking at $700-800K for a triplex or 2 family + bonus basement. That property type seemed to be the sweet spot for my criteria which was getting close to living for free, low money down, being very close to Manhattan, cash-flowing well when you move out and avoiding significant rehab. I'm sure theres off market BRRRR opportunities but i wasnt looking for that for the first househack.

I just bought a condo in Weehawken and went through Rent control with the township. Did you manage to get the tenant out or raise the rent?

Hmm, so i just bought a condo in weehawken and spoke with the township and had a similar discussion. My understanding was that since the previous landlord had it rented out, if i want to rent it it need to follow the rent control value they gave it (which was a fair number in my case). They explained the only way to get out of rent control is to owner occupy in the property for 2 years. What did you find out in the end?

1) Set for life by Craig Curlop was the one that got me thinking the right way.
2) That followed by Rich dad poor dad and the Millionaire real estate investor.
3) Miracles morning millionaires is a cool one too. Building wealth one house at a time is a good simple read to bring you back to earth after spending too much time listening to podcasts and reading about complicated strategies 

I wouldnt, unless you have an eagle eye for moisture, foundational issues, cracks, roof condition etc. ~$500 now can save you thousands down the road as i found out last week! 

Hmm, between your inspection, appraisal, title, etc it does add up quickly. I budget 4% of property price on closing costs. one way to try to get out of the immediate closing cost is offer 3% above your original offer and have a clause that says  something like "Seller credits 3% of property price in closing costs upon completion". That way the lender is essentially financing your closing costs and you pay it off through your mortgage. Hope that makes sense

@Christopher Smith

Thanks?’ I just spoke to them and they reassess every 5 years with the next assessment in 2021. They will come up with an assessment rate not purely off the sale price of the property, but instead the overall change in the market for the area in question.

When they find a surge in assessed property prices in the area they will seek to cut the mill rate to offset the effect on the homeowner, and when assessment values drop they increase the mill rate

Hi BP, I've saved up from my job in Manhattan and after studying a handful of towns and states have started putting offers in on SFH properties in the New Haven/Hamden area of Conneticut.

A theme I’m noticing is the assessed value of the home can be anything from 40-75% of the listing price, and as the result of a fixed 0.0048 mill rate it can cause a huge swing in Property taxes which often switches a good deal to a bad deal. My question is if for example a property was assessed last year at $100,000 (with $4800 taxes) and then it sells for $180,000, will the assessed value automatically shoot up in the next assessment because it was recently sold? Or will it continue to trickle up at the 2/3% rate it historically has?

Thanks!

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