All Forum Posts by: Robert Shaw

1) Rutgers dorms are not expensive 2) Rutgers require students to live on campus first two years 3) Plenty of land to put up new housing 4) SFR and multis in town are really old stock

Most colleges can destroy off campus market just by requiring undergrads to live on campus.

depends on what kind of auction. if it was auction.com then its a scam because the system creates phantom bids against you.

How are you getting 32% CoC?

That's basically the market.

Also don't forget section 8 inspections and electrical requirements. I would partner up with someone who know the local code. 

JHU / Patterson areas are nice, but I can't get numbers to work. Prices are all over the place and rents are low relative to investment. I think the game is too hard now. My belief is that rent numbers are not coming up due to overwhelming supply and section 8 limits. Any paper appreciation is temporary and subject to to economic fluctuations.   

To say that an investor should buy for appreciation is to say that the market will have many retail homeowners (not section 8) instead of cashflow investors. I don't see that at all except in the best areas downtown.  

Would welcome any thoughts on this.

20-30k means they'll need a gut reno. The pron is these small units donr get enough rent to make the costs worthwhile - at least to me. I think contractors make more money on those!

I do but lately I've been changing my strategy from cashflow to buying better areas. I also dont buy unless there's lead free cert. 

Baltimore - just be careful with lead paint and high water bills. Renos there require full lead paint removal which adds a few thousand to the rehab cost. Water is crazy expensive there.

I am looking outside of Newark as well. Too much hassle to get an average return. Politicians there basically decided to cater to lower income voters instead of attracting higher rent payers from NYC. 

What I see is retail failures throughout without the NYC crowd, and the city will limbo sideways without big investment coming in. 

Keep catering to section 8 and the city will never get out of its doldrums. 

so what kind of rent numbers and cash on cash return are you expecting?