West New York, NJ Duplex , buying with existing tenants in place

[Mark Gee]

Hey BP!

I'm venturing into a new town in Hudson County for my next project, and I'm wondering if we have any WNY pro's to point me in the right direction.  I'm looking at a duplex with two 2 bed 1 bath apartments.  The house needs tons of work and the price reflects it.  I have many questions but I would really appreciate an answer to these below to understand the picture better.

1) Does WNY have rent control?  Can anyone give me color on the details of how it works?

2) The town assessment values are really low.  I realize this isn't necessarily telling, but I'm wondering if there's a reason many duplexes are assessed at between 100k - 125k. 

Thanks very much for any answers.  I'm really liking this area for investment.

[Jessica Zolotorofe]

Hi @Mark Gee! The answer to your first question is yes, WNY does have rent control ordinances. If you'd like to email me I can send you the code provisions that explain everything (this site is weird about posting anything direct to a forum, sorry!) As for your second question, assessments are subject to equalization ratios in most of NJ. So the actual assessment doesn't mean much. In West New York, the ratio is just under 34%, so that means the assessment you see in the records is about 34% of what the town believes  the market value to be. So a $100,000 assessment is really closer to a value of $295,000. Hope that helps!