All Forum Posts by: Peter Vander Valk

Hey Tom, sorry to hear about the water issue, that is unfortunate. We've had a lot of rain recently, so check to see if the water is still draining away from your home properly or if something may have changed during the recent weather. See if your gutters and downspouts are moving the water far enough away from your foundation. I am by no means an expert, but if it's never flooded in the past, I'd thing maybe it's not a groundwater problem, but something involving drainage. @Raymond Temprano or @Michelangelo Felix might be able to weigh in here better than I can. Ray owns a construction company and specializes in basements, and Michelangelo is an engineer/general contractor.@Michelangelo Felix I hope you can figure it out quickly and relatively easily. Best of luck!

@Ryan Daniher I am liking what everyone has brought to the table here. As far as food goes, kind of a low hanging fruit, so I won't get into it, but the Portuguese food in the Ironbound is awesome, and the Portuguese festival in the summer is great, but I'm not sure what the status of it is these past few years. The absolute best Cuban sandwich and guava and cheese pastries I've ever had were from the Cuba Bakery on Mount Prospect (recommended to me by a Cuban former coworker). For a cool old coffee shop that has good candy but mediocre coffee, T.M. Ward is worth stopping into for its old school vibe if you're in City Hall. Tops Diner is another classic joint. These are just a few great spots, there's plenty of awesome food to be had in Newark.

I also love Newark, and I think it's a great place if you know what you are doing. There has been so much development going on there, and there's plenty more to come. I think long term it'll trend up for sure. The key phrase here though is "if you know what you are doing."

Aside from the excellent points that @Dennis Yosco brings up, one thing to keep in mind with Newark is that much of the city falls into different historic districts, and the Historic Department can be tough. If you want to do any work in a historic district, you need to get approval. Any exterior work in a historic district, and you need to go before the Historic Board, which meets once a month, for approval. You need to get on their agenda, so it could be potentially 5+ weeks just to get into a meeting. Solar panels? Board meeting. Replacing windows? Meeting. I have been to a few meetings for my last job to get approval for certain projects and have seen many people get their projects denied. If your project gets denied, you will probably need to wait a month to come to the next board meeting unless they allow you to address it at the next plan review meeting, which also meets once a month.

The worst I saw at a meeting was a couple who was trying to get their roof replaced, but the only approved materials were above the price range they could afford at the moment, and their roof was leaking badly, and was past the point of them being able to get it patched. They got denied (this was at least the 2nd time they got denied if I remember correctly). This was during the winter, too. The board aren't just a bunch of jerks or anything, but they need to adhere strictly to the code and how the ordinances are written. If you want to buy in Newark, it's worth paying a visit to Historic down at City Hall to confirm whether or not the property you're buying falls within a historic district.

Long story short, make sure you know what you are doing when you buy something in Newark. Aside from Historic, the Zoning and Building departments aren't always the easiest to navigate, so make sure that you have a contractor that knows what they are doing before you commit to anything. You can hit some home runs there, but you can also get in over your head really fast if you don't know what you're doing.

Hi Brett! Your debt-to-income ratio, as well as how much you can put down for a down payment/closing costs will largely dictate what you are able to afford. With FHA, you would be able to put down 3.5% on a 1-4 unit property, which could be a good option to consider for you if you want to keep the down payment on the lower end. If you would like, I would be happy to discuss further.

Hi Andrew, I would suggest speaking with @Raymond Temprano, co-founder of Pivot Property Management.

As @Jay Hinrichs mentioned, the test is not easy, and shouldn't be taken lightly. I think it's somewhere around a 50% pass rate. There are some great study tools that can help you retain the material, but you do need to make a commitment and put in the effort to prepare. I took about 3-4 weeks just to study after I completed my education and passed on the first try. There are laws, math questions, and even meta questions about the licensing process and keeping your licensing current. It is all multiple choice, at least.

If you want to test the waters before becoming licensed, you could look for work as a loan officer assistant, but you would eventually probably want to make the move into being a loan officer if you choose that career path. Alternatively, you can look at becoming a registered loan originator with a bank, but I can't really speak to that procedure.

@Sam Trulli your debt to income ratio will likely be your biggest factor for conventional financing. At $10k/year, that works out to about $833/month, and conventional underwriting guidelines suggest (I say suggest because you can technically go higher with compensating factors) your housing expense should not exceed 36% of your monthly income. That leaves $299/month for a mortgage payment. There are options for people who don't claim a lot, but they can come with less favorable terms.

As far as getting licensed, you need 20 hours of federal education, 4 hours for NJ state education, pass the exam, get finger printed, background check, etc. It's a process. And then you need to actually learn how to do the job, because the education doesn't really get too deep into that. But if you are interested, I would be glad to talk to you further about it!

Hey Sam, welcome to BP! $220k is a great amount of money to have saved by 21! Like you said, to qualify for a conventional loan you need 2 years work history in the same field. There are other types of loans you can get without showing any employment income (DSCR/No Ratio), but those will come with higher interest rates, lower LTVs and less favorable terms. Figuring out what you want to do as far as your work situation first would probably help you create a more realistic path toward achieving your investment goals.

Other than being an agent, is there anything else you might like to do in the RE field? As a loan officer, I get to run my own business, talk RE every day and help people achieve their goals. I love it! There are a lot of career paths in this industry to think about, and maybe staying in the industry, just not as an agent, would be something that would keep you engaged in real estate and give you better insight into investing. If you ever want to talk about being a loan officer, I would be happy to share my experience! Either way, I wish you the best of luck in figuring out what you want to do and how you want to do it.

Hi Sarah! I am a loan officer located in Bloomfield, NJ but my company operates in PA as well. Depending on the loan type, you can likely get something without points. Feel free to send me a message, and I would be happy to help point you in the right direction!

Hi Stephanie, welcome to BP! Now is the time to start planning if you are looking to buy by early '22. Networking with other people to see how they have done it will give you a wealth of knowledge. Not sure where you're living at the moment, but there are a few great meetups around me (I live in Bloomfield, NJ), as well as one I co-host monthly with another BP member. If you ever want to talk real estate/investing, I'd love to connect!