Top places to invest in NJ

[Joshua Goldberg]

Hi my name is Josh and I am looking to buy my first investment property. I live right in Hudson county and would like to have a property within an hour drive of where I live. However, I haven’t found any solid opportunities yet. Does anyone have any suggestions on good areas to find a property <400k that will provide a solid cash flow? Thank you!

[John Errico]

Hey Stephen R Johnson I am not so worried about a market correction for rentals if the property is cash flowing OK right now. In my mind, the value of the property is sort of irrelevant, and the main concerns are rents and vacancy. Your expenses are going to be basically fixed, and the only way rents are (probably) going to decrease in the greater NYC area is due to a lot of new supply, or some big economic event/natural catastrophe/terrorism etc. that makes living in or around NYC suddenly undesirable. I’m not really worried about that either so much in this area. If anything, you could argue that rents will be even healthier in a recession because home ownership may be less attainable.

I think if you can find solid cash flow properties in, say, East Orange, you shouldn’t be super concerned even if their value decreases in the shorter term due to some macro economic events. You can get both Section 8 tenants and non-government assisted tenants in East Orange. There are pros and cons to both... but, I think, if you are thoughtful about picking tenants and management you should be ok. Best of luck!