Rent in NJ vs Matthews, NC

[Wojciech M.]

Hi first time post here - thanks in advance for any help anyone is willing to provide. My wife and I looking to get started doing rental properties (single family homes, maybe duplexes, some brrrr in the future). We currently have a mortgage (30yrs conventional) on our primary property in NJ (bought it last year) and are closing this week on our property in Matthews, NC (also 30yr conventional as a second home). Researching this on the internet it appears Matthews is a better area to rent out to people from the landlord's perspective (laws appear to be more favorable to the landlord vs NJ where it is supposedly very difficult to evict tenants that are not paying, of course assuming the worst case scenario). Does any one have any experience in both states and could share their thoughts? 

We're considering to be in Charlotte area in the long run so we're thinking either rent the NJ property or sell it - if today then capital gain tax and exit tax will make it that we kind of break even or make minimal profit due to property's nice appreciation, but from the return on our down payment we would have enough to invest in another property in Charlotte area. Other option is to rent the Matthews property for a year and move there next year then sell the NJ (avoiding capital gain tax). Next option would be to keep the NJ property long term rental (but then we're kind of worried about the tenant quality and the eviction laws in NJ which we've been hearing some bad stories on). Also being 10 hours away makes it a bit difficult. Thanks again for taking the time to read is and sharing any experience / advice.

Voyteck