All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

That's Great to hear! Keep it moving!

Talk soon,

William Lees Jr

Hi @Harry Metzinger

Great to hear from you! Things are really picking up. I got a few partners I work with doing flips and a bunch investors I help with their investing. How things going for you?

William Lees Jr

Hi George Beatty If you are looking for a brokerage to join I'd recommend Garden Realty. It is owned by Don Haven Jr, a lot of investors hang their licenses there! If you PM me I can send you his contact info! Talk soon, William Lees Jr

Hi Ray Masciangelo I would say a line of credit would be best. It is definitely more versatile and can be considered cash when making an offer. You get to reuse it over and over again where as with a loan you do not. Of course like you said you might have to secure the line of credit. with the ability to have "cash" available to me is worth it. I am interested to hear what other people have to say. William Lees Jr

Hi @Takidia T jennings,

I am glad you found the info helpful. Make sure to check out the other two I posted about the south jersey market. If you put in south jersey as a search you should be able to find them. I believe you can also see them on the side of my profile. 

Hi @Louis Friedman,

I'm glad the info helped you as well. Depending where you consider central jersey to start, But some towns I have been through that fit that middle range are Maple Shade, Delran, Mt Laurel, Mount Holly, Riverside, Wilingboro. There are more but those are the ones I have been through. 

Let me know any other questions anybody might have,

William Lees Jr

Hi everyone,

I wanted to post the next installment in South Jersey Investing. I went over FLIPS in South Jersey, Central Jersey, New Jersey area. Now I want to touch on BUY AND HOLDS.

BUY AND HOLDS

When looking for a Buy and hold in South Jersey, Central Jersey, New jersey area you have two options. Turnkey and total rehabs. Rehabs are the more favored option but they are harder to find, mainly because of the competition for them. Built in equity is favorable. But there are more and more investors who don't have the time to do the work in a rehab and are just looking for a ready to go return on their money. So the turnkey is picking up. The typical returns you see are between 9% and 14%. The biggest hurdle to purchase these is the listing price. A good amount of the turnkeys are over priced, BUT I believe this to be just a mental block. I have found that if you just figure out the number that makes the property work for you and offer it you have more success than failure. 

The average sized units that you see in the South Jersey Central Jersey area are between 2-5. They are mostly 1-2 bed 1bath set ups. The average rents you can get are between 900-1400 depending on the town. There are three markets to get into and each has it's own benefit. The first one is your low income blue collar, these towns are great for cash flow but not much in the way of appreciation. They have a lot of turn over but you can usually always fill them up. The 2nd market is your higher blue collar towns. They are your more constant tenant areas. They stay longer and set roots. The cash flow is less because taxes are higher, but there is some appreciation as well. The 3rd market is higher paid blue collar workers. These market are great for appreciation because the towns are very desirable, but your cash flow is usually close to nonexistent.  The tenants are usually people transitioning between renting and buying so your turn over is high and you have a hard times finding tenants. The pay off at retirement can be worth it though. 

Lets go through a typical transaction for a multi unit in NJ:

1. We Find the deal, either through an agent or wholesaler.

2. We go to see the property to see what the condition is and to see what the town is like. (You usually have time to do this on a turnkey, Rehab needs to be bought faster)

3. Now we put in your offer. Again when doing an offer the ways you can beat out the competition besides just being the highest is to offer to close quickly, 2 weeks is standard, or offer all cash, offer to have no contingencies (Inspections, Etc). 

4. Once we get the property under contract you have two weeks usually to get everything done. From official quotes from you contractors to any inspections that you did want done. You also need to get a title agency to close the property. We also want to get copies of any leases of tenants, proof they have been paying, any Certificate of Occupancies, and also proof there is a security deposit. If you have an off market deal you still need to get a lawyer to draw up the contracts, a title agency to close the property and a conditional certificate of occupancy (depending on the town).

5. Now you close the property. You show up pay everything you are required and hope nothing was missed.

10. Your a new landlord. If there was rehab to be done you get that underway and then perform the property for top rents. If it was a turnkey you start making your money right away.

The thing to remember when investing in rentals in South Jersey, Central jersey, or New Jersey in general is to always stick to your numbers and to always ignore the list price and offer the price that works. 

Let me know any questions you may have and if anyone has thought please add them in!

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to follow up on a post I did a while back about the South Jersey Market. I went over what towns in South Jersey are best for which strategy, Buy and Hold, Flip, BRRRR, Etc. Now I would like to go through what to expect during a typical investment in South Jersey.

FLIP 

When you are looking to flip a house in south jersey you have three options, the ARV market of 150k-200k(First Time Home Buyer), the ARV Market of 200k-300k(Mid Level Blue Collar, and the 300k and Up market ("Luxury"). Each one has its benefits and strategies, it's ups and downs. So lets dive in...

150k-200k - This market is on fire in South Jersey. There is high demand among First time home buyers for rehabbed homes. Since this is the typical mortgage they can be approved for its very competitive, which makes you more money. The other side is that its highly competitive among investors to acquire these properties. Each property has multiple offers and the Banks that are selling the properties know this, so they are less likely to accept anything less than the highest the market allows. The strategy that I find works best is to get a good real estate agent and wholesaler to help you find as many deals to put offers in on as you can. 

200k-300k- This market is also moving very quickly. There are less towns that fall into this category and there are less investors that can afford to get into the project without lending. Less of these opportunities come up as well. But the buyers that can afford here are no less prominent, so when an opportunity arrives its gobbled up. The banks are still the same in mentality with this market but there is an easier solution to being competitive. CASH, being able to offer cash has been a good way to win out the bid on these properties. 

300k and up- The "Luxury" Market in South Jersey is a harder market to get into. You need to really know what sells and what the days on market are and you need to definitely have connections with a real estate agent that know buyers in that range or have some yourself. It would definitely be good to do a lot of research on an area before stepping into one of these projects. That being said there are definitely less of these options that come up but also less investors that deal in this area. These projects can take 6 months to a year to get done. 

So now lets go through the typical process:

1. We Find the deal, either through an agent, wholesaler, or mailer we've done. 

2. We go to see the property to do our scope of work. (This is where most investors are beat out. You need to get into the property quick and get your offer in quick.)

3. Now we put in your offer. When doing an offer the ways you can beat out the competition besides just being the highest is to offer to close quickly, 2 weeks is standard, or offer all cash, offer to have no contingencies (Inspections, Etc). You need to get your offer in as fast as you can. Usually the bank will come back and say there are multiple offers and they want highest and best. NEVER OFFER MORE THAN YOUR MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE OFFER! There will always be another property. (Ways to be able to offer more is to develop ways to lower your cost on the project ie, cheaper contractors, cheaper materials, etc)

4. Once you beat out the competition and get the property the fun begins. you have two weeks usually to get everything done. From official quotes from you contractors to any inspections  that you did want done. You also need to get a title agency to close the property. If you have an off market deal you still need to get a lawyer to draw up the contracts, a title agency to close the property and a conditional certificate of occupancy (depending on the town)

5. Now you close the property. You show up pay everything you are required and hope nothing was missed.

6. Start construction right away. As the demo work begins you have to be ready for something to come up that you might not have seen because it was behind a wall. The typical hiccups you run into is copper missing that you didn't see, (it's usually completely gone anyway) knob and tube wiring, termite damage, water damage, and mold.

7. Once you are putting on your finishing touches you are going to start looking at selling the property. So you want to pull your comps again and see where the market is for your price. 

8. we list your property and will usually (if priced right) get offers within the first week. 

9. We accept an offer and then go to closing. Sometime things come up when the home buyer gets an inspection and the apprasials and certificate of occupancy goes through. Most of the buyers have no excess cash so  you have to be willing to fix some things to get to closing. 

10. Get paid!

I hope this is helpful and if you have experiences to add and questions or thoughts please add them. I will go through a Hold deal in my next post.

William Lees Jr

Hi @Eric Oswald,

Thanks! I'm glad you found it informative. Like I said in my post any market can support either rentals or flips it just comes down to the strategy needed to make it successful. 

So for Woodbury the strategy that would be most used would be to find properties that are at a deep discount from the ARV because of the high taxes and the expense of holding the property. The other thing you would need to be careful of is anything that might be deemed historic. The other strategy I have done for some clients is to actually flip rental properties to turnkey quality and then sell them to investors. This way your playing more to the demand in the market and also targeting people that have the money to afford the property.

I have also done some deals for clients in Woodbury Heights. This is a really good flip market.

Let me know any other questions you may have,

William Lees Jr

Hi Cynthia Hillocks Welcome to BiggerPockets in the world of real estate investing. I look forward to seeing you around. Let me know any questions you may have, William Lees jr

Hi @Tiffany Hautau

Welcome to BP! I am actively working in investing in South Jersey and would be more than happy to answer any question you may have. Send me a PM and well figure out a time to meet up.

Talk soon,

William Lees Jr