Purchasing property in NY/NJ

[Maxwell Howard]

My sister is moving to NY and was going to rent, I would much rather purchase a home and she will pay the mortgage as well as have another tenant pay rent that we will split. I know nothing about NY and would like to know what areas would be safe for my sister, profitable for us both (especially if we decided to sell in a few years), and convenient to commute to work. I have just started to scrape the surface of the market there and am not opposed to her living in NJ if there is a reasonable property and convenient any ideas on this whole situation or questions to clarify. Also this will be my first property not looking to go above 200,00$. Please any info is much appreciated!

[Jessica Zolotorofe]

You also have to understand that even from one side of Manhattan to the other could take well over an hour. Penn Station and Grand Central are the two main hubs, but even a 60-75 min to Grand Central and then a subway or 2 could easily turn into a 2 hr commute each way. You have to find out where in Manhattan. There are probably 100+ blocks that can be called the "heart of Manhattan". Does she plan on having a car? As for Bergen, Passaic, and Essex there are some great towns, suburban family areas, for the most part, but also some really rough towns. None have a real night life other than maybe Montclair in Essex (good parts and bad parts). Ridgewood has a nice downtown, but not really a nightlife. If you want to go into Morris county, Morristown is a good younger area. White plains in Westchester is a cool place, but all of these are pretty long commutes and all are expensive areas with high taxes. Sounds like she wants more of a Hoboken/Jersey City/Manhattan kind of location, and especially if you need livable during renovation for your sister and a roommate...it'll really unlikely be under $200,000 even now, and unfortunately, I'd be shocked if you found something 3+ bedrooms that met all of your requirements and that you could fix up and be all in for under $200,000. If you do, please share where, because I'm in!