Guidance on starting out with 20k in New Jersey

[Pawaroon Chandanaraja]

Hello! 

I am a 30 year old post grad with 20k saved up looking to either house hack in the 300k range or possibly use the 20k as down payment into a single family home for rental. I am located in central jersey. My goals are to just get started with at least positive cash flow. I have read a few biggerpockets books and ready to take action. Please assist, open to suggestions and connecting with others! 

Thank you!

[Jonathan Greene]

Quote from @Chris Baist:

Hey pawaroon I'm almost in your identical situation. I'm in central nj, between my partner and I we have about 30k to play with. I've been running numbers trying to find a property under 300k with a positive cash on cash (CoC) return over 15%. Seeing how scarce these property's are has pushed me to look at out of state turn key property's. We live in one of the most expensive states there is. If a water heater goes on your property, all your profit for the year is gone and your 15% CoC turns into 1% real quick.

I wouldn't give up on house hacking because when your budget goes up, you will get strong appreciation on the asset. That is the benefit of NJ investing and also in Central NJ your taxes are lower than Northern NJ where they are insane. If you were just looking to landlord, going out of state is a good option. We had a ton of investors go to Philly because the taxes are low, the prices are good, but you do have to study the blocks and drive them.