All Forum Posts by: Matthew Matilsky

 NJ is on the list of state’s population moving out just about every year. Property taxes are highest by percentage of any state. It’s run by a political machine that is bleeding it dry. Should I continue? 

It is not landlord friendly at all, the laws will always favor tenants. As a real estate investor that should be top of mind. 

I’m surprised you asked the question, lol. For a Jersey resident, investing out of state is king. Buy hey, whatever makes you happy. It’s your money :)

As a current Jersey resident, I would not invest here. I've chosen to go south. If you need help with Florida or Alabama, let me know. It won't be much longer until I join my investments and head south as well. There's a reason people are leaving here in droves. Always invest in the path of progress not places of rapid decline.

@Matthew Matilsky I read through some of the other posts and you have some good advice, but Morristown vs. Rutherford is an odd combo choice. What are you looking to get out of the investment? Since you won't be house hacking I don't think, it's hard to beat the prices that house hackers will pay and you really need a vacant (or month-to-month tenant who know price is low) option to scale. I have a lot of investors who crush on finished products, but you have to go up to get them. But with 20-30 pct down in NJ they are killing it on cashflow.

Depending on your budget there are some sneaky 2-family towns where you can do ok. For example, Dover, Hackettstown, Netcong. Morristown I love, I live in Mendham, but you will find the best options near Speedwell and the rents don't match the list price at all.

 NJ is brutal for landlords. Get your money out of there.

The team matters more than the market.  You can lose money in a great market, and make money in a crap market if you are investing with a great team out of state.  When you become an out of state investor you need either:

1. A company that does everything from Realty, Property Management, strategy etc..

2. Build your own team of pro's.

There are pro's and con's to each.  Model #1 you have one company that is responsible for your performance, and they can make investing truly passive.  You need to have a lot of trust in that company because you have a lot of eggs in one basket.

Model 2 you are not beholden to any one person, but you have a whole bunch of subs you are coordinating with and are hoping they all play nice in the sandbox.   You can also have one bad sub screw up everything. 

The answer normally lies in what your goals are.  Do you want a team of pro's to handle everything and you save time, but pay more?

Or do you value the lowest possible price and you exert time and energy managing the entire process?

I invest in northern NJ like Shawn (3 small multi family properties last 4 years, all house hacks in Bergen county) and do fine. @Jonathan Greene is in Morris county and post content northern NJ specific, follow his YouTube channel. His short videos are gold. We've posted about it before but there are pros and cons to NJ. Quick list, pros- low vacancy rates, high rents, moderate/high home appreciation, high rents increases, demand is always there as people move/commute from NYC; cons- very competitive, pro tenant laws, high property taxes, some towns have rent control, high barrier to entry with expensive multifamily prices. James Wise is right, NJ is tenant friendly however it is not as bad in more purple/red counties. Eviction court and judges are more moderate and reasonable. Essex and Hudson county are blue (high property taxes too) and I would never buy there. The surrounding counties aren't as bad, talking with local attorneys and investors. If you're interested in reading the basics, read this. 

https://www.nj.gov/dca/divisions/codes/publications/pdf_lti/...

I'm not familiar with Morristown and Morris county specifically but made two offers on East Rutherford duplexes. Lost out on both but the proximity to NYC is very attractive and the town is decent. You need to pick at least a county in NJ IMO.. Also I'd say house hacking small multi is the best strategy to start building up (biased as that's what I did) but you have a primary so that's tough. If you don't have a ton of cash then NJ may be tough for you due to high price points (looking at 150k minimum for down payment and closing cost). Most people who are interested in NJ investing I meet never get started or invest out of state. The ones who do invest here seem to do very well. I always see people crap on REI in NJ without knowing specifics. On the surface it may look bad, but my portfolio is pretty solid for only house hacking. @Sunny Burns is even more impressive and was on the BP podcast way back when.

@Matthew Matilsky

I'm not multi investor here, but I think there is still value.  Another investor I know bought some duplexes south of Morristown and I think is doing well.  

You might consider staying local since its what you know...  Continue to build your network here.  Investing long distance brings on a whole bunch of additional/different issues.  Our values here are high, and generally continue to go higher.  So, that will bring you long term wealth, not cash flow.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/1159104-overleveraging-net-worth-cash-flow-and-headache-factor  You might take a look at what happened to this investor she tried going out of state...

Hope this helps.  Happy to chat.  Good luck.

Local and out of state are 2 different things. Especially when starting out, I feel it's best to decide on a strategy and zero in on it. Ie decide if local vs non local is what you want to focus on. The analysis paralysis is lesser when there is less areas to simultaneously analyze. I have the same issue as well. I wish you the best of success! 

I think Columbus is a great option to consider. I moved here from Florida after seeing the projected growth. Multiple, billion dollar companies are investing substantial amounts of money into our area, such as Intel, Google, and Amazon. Which in turn will bring plenty of other investors and general business to the market.

Hi @Matthew Matilsky NJ is great for multi's.  It’s how my wife and I got to financial freedom.  Happy to hop on a call and more if you would like