All Forum Posts by: Marc Weisi

Be aware of where you're purchasing. Drive the area, speak to people on the street, "kick the tires". As with most major cities, Newark is a panoply of many dynamic sub-markets. The area is very block by block but I can tell you that south Newark in general (think Clinton Hill, Springfield Ave, Weequahic, etc.) hasn't experienced quite the amount of development as some of the other areas in Newark.

@Leora Devitt  Myself and my partner are familiarizing ourselves with the Allentown market right now as well. We're building our team and we've interviewed a bunch of PM's, brokers, and lenders so far. Would be happy to connect to share notes if you'd like.

@Sunil A.   There are plenty of forum posts on this very topic. I'd suggest doing a quick search on the site for some of those as there are many threads on this already.

@Ezra N. Don't let your early experiences get you down on investing in real estate. If anything, you've learned more in your first year than most investors do in their first 10. Now, it's up to you to educate yourself so you never get taken for a ride like that again. This is definitely a great forum for that education. I'd also suggest going to meetups w/ other RE investors in Northern NJ. There are tons of them and many are free. And now, a quote that seems written for you:  “A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.” --FDR

   

@Omar Ismael  Amazing story! Keep building that portfolio and any way I can help, please let me know. 

@Alejandro Tirso , great question. I must admit that I don't know because I was looking strictly for owner-occ properties. Feel free to look through the materials I attached in the above. 

@Kenneth Moerschel  I would add on to what @Allan Szlafrok , if you're absolutely intent on finding a section 8 tenant then call the Section 8 department of the NHA. There are also a couple of websites devoted to this very tenant base--gosection8.com comes to mind. Again, I'd agree with the above comments that you should go w/ the best tenant regardless of voucher/no voucher.

Agreed 100%. I think this is fast becoming an uneconomical market. Especially given the limits to increasing rents here as per rent control. May still offer opportunity for flippers out there and those who are comfortable on some of the trickier blocks but that's not my bag. Amazing run-up in the past few years.

@John Paul I definitely agree with what's been said above. If purchase price is a limiting factor, I'd encourage you to think about house-hacking (unless there's some lifestyle give-up that you can't personally stomach). It's a great way to invest locally and will teach you a lot about managing a property in a relatively low-risk way. In addition, you may be able to qualify for a low down payment via an FHA loan.

@Charles H.   I'm currently considering doing the same thing--converting a single family to a two-family in JC. Curious if you followed through with the above. Would love to hear about your experiences if that was the case.