All Forum Posts by: Tim Booz

Welcome aboard @Saad Saeed! Where in NJ are you planning to get started?

Hi All,

I have a two family property coming up for sale - available to Realtors for showings starting on Monday - but I figured I'd get the Bigger Pockets members in the Jersey City, Hudson County, and general New Jersey area a heads up before it goes out to everyone. If you're interested in seeing it please contact me directly, and we can set up to check it out in person. I can also send you some pictures. Full disclosure, I'm a licensed broker in NJ, and this place is being sold through my brokerage.

If you have a real estate agent you have a personal relationship with feel free to have them contact me on your behalf to set up for next week, when the property hits the MLS rather than working with me directly.

The property is 9 minutes from the PATH train to NYC. Top floor duplex apartment is 2.5 beds and 1.5 baths with a small covered deck and access to a shared back yard. Apartment has a washer/dryer in unit, dishwasher in the kitchen, and was completely painted in July. Tenants have very good credit and income, and are on a one year NJAR lease ending July 2016. They've expressed interest to stay long term.

Bottom floor studio has a railroad style bedroom, but has no window - so legally speaking it's a studio with a den. Apartment has it's own private entrance, and also has shared access to the landscaped back yard. Property is rented to a tenant with good credit and income on a one year NJAR lease ending July 2016.

Both tenants have agreed to pay rent by direct debit, and it is reflected in the lease. Both tenants communicate primarily via email or text, rather than phone calls.

Property Stats:

Asking Price $365,000

Taxes $6000 (estimated, waiting for final amount, last years were $5400)

water/sewer - $1200 Approximate, waiting for final confirmation from owner

insurance - $1200 Approximate, waiting for final confirmation from owner

Rental income: 

Studio: $1050 p month = $12,600

2.5 Bed: $1750 p month = $21,000

Total rent roll = $2800 per month, or $33,600 annually.

If you're interested in learning more just send me a message here, or email me. I have pictures, neighborhood reports, and  walkscore / local info report to send via email.

Thanks!

Welcome to Bigger Pockets @David Ballan

Are you looking at specific colleges, or just starting to get an idea? The markets are very different depending on the school. For example, Montclair and Rutgers are surrounded by very different housing options. 

On a place like William Paterson University in Wayne you'll find that the dollars are in the details. If you were to do a geographic search within 15 miles of the school you'd find a whole bunch of places that look great on paper - but upon further investigation may fall in areas of Paterson and Lodi that tenants try to avoid. Be mindful of the flood plain in Wayne as well...a lot of SFR's have bargain pricing there, and are "recently renovated" ...every year, during hurricane season.

  If there's anything I can do to help you guys or point you in the right direction feel free to reach out, I'm always happy to answer questions about the area. 

@Karima McKenzie no better place to get started again - you'll find a ton of info, along with a lot of very helpful New Jersyans. What type of investing are you looking into?

Hey @Paige Clarke, welcome to Bigger Pockets and NJ! Have you made it out to explore the areas outside of the Hudson County area yet? If not, you'll find  tremendous differences within the 50 miles you mentioned. Sussex County has horse farms and ski resorts about an hour away from you, and several areas in Morris and Bergen Counties offer the lifestyle of the suburbs with public transit to NYC. Please keep me in the loop once you start wholesaling, and feel free to reach out if there's anything I can help out with in the meantime. 

@Michael Singleton welcome aboard! Outside of real estate, what kind of things do you 'preneuer?

@Dee Georgian Sounds like you'll be here in time for winter! I can only speak to the NJ side of things, but it is commonly known to be a tough place to start investing in. I wouldn't rule it out, because it's definitely possible and profitable -  but depends on your criteria. It's a lot tougher to find a place under 100K here in NJ than it is in the middle of the country. If you're open to long distance investing  BP Podcast 103: Building a Long Distance Real Estate Empire One House at a Time with Elizabeth Colegrove might be good for the flight/drive up north.

@Matt ScottOne of my favorite quotes, as the famous philosopher Mike Tyson once said "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face."  Like @John Steele said, don't be afraid to pivot and take things in another direction, there are many roads to success, especially in real estate. Your plan sounds good, and it's awesome that you've mapped it out so early in life. If you hit a roadblock in your plan just find a detour and continue on.

One thing that's helped me move toward larger goals that are in the future is to set small 90 day goals that add up to the big one. Depending on how intricate you want to get you can break those down to monthly and weekly as well. That can be helpful if you want to take the "make progress every day" approach. It's very cool to see how the little day by day efforts add up after a month or six. It looks like you're off to a great start!

@Achi Adamit Pretty much nailed it. Speaking Spanish would be very helpful, and you'll definitely have requests to pay the rent in cash. (This can sometimes mean offers of partial payment as well, with promises to bring the rest of the rent on the next payday.)

 In the properties I take care of in the area I've found you can have better luck setting expectations of rent from the start of a lease, as opposed to when you inherit a tenant.

For example, we require that tenants pay the rent via direct debit or online. To find those tenants we're usually running ads online, as opposed to placing a for rent sign with a phone number. When a tenant is willing to correspond via email it can help with language barriers (google translate isn't perfect, but it can certainly bridge a gap). I've also found that email savvy applicants are usually able to work out online payment or direct debit, as long as they can do it on a smart phone.

Like Doug mentioned, if you can find a building that makes a profit with rents under $1000 you'll have no trouble with finding tenants, anything sub $1000 should fly.

Hey @Aaron Simek You'll find a lot of people from both NJ and NYC here. Have you ventured to the Jersey side of the river to explore yet? 1-2 hours by train gives you a ton of options, from houses in the suburbs/Bergen County to apartments and multifams in the Hudson County area.

You can check out the NJ transit schedules here to see what falls within your commute barrier, or use the google maps public transit option - it tends to be pretty accurate for the rail system, including the PATH.