I live in northern new jersey where most work in nyc (like myself) and deal with insane taxes. I currently live in a townhome community which is nice. i have some cash from stocks that i wanted to use to buy a place and try my hand in real estate. my strategy is to buy and hold a few properties with postive cash flow. Its almost impossible here to apply the 50% rule with the criteria.

here are the details of the deal:

House was new to MLS. they had multiple offers in 2 days. I went aggressive and got it at 335k for a small single family starter home that was a flip, ie I am the buyer of a flip. it has nearly everything redone (kitchen,roof, floors, plumbing, electrical). i plan on putting 20% cash down and getting financing. with PITI cost equal about $1950/mo. The key is that the taxes on this house relative to the area are very low at 7k/year. I pay 11k for my townhome! its a nice up and coming town with a rail to NYC close by. I am about to get out of attorney review and inspected soon.

my realtor and research is showing that i could get EASY $2200 possibly up to $2500 for this per month. its modest cashflow but positive none the less.

I have reserve funds to pay for unexpected repairs and vacancy. (I could buy this place outright cash)

I'm new, i get it but am I that naive to think this is a no-brainer? What am I missing here? I know on-going maintenance like landscaping is something to consider in costs too (do it myself, pass off to renter, etc).

I figured this would be a great opportunity to learn the ropes and learn what I don't know with minimal investment up front (~65k). I know the area very well, I would live in this place!

I'm trying to stay postive because I am hearing negativity but I want to get off my *** and DO IT.

Any thoughts would be great.

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Newbie: In the midst of my first deal.... thoughts?

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