Seeking Advice On Way-Forward in Jersey City, NJ

[Christopher Stover]

Hi Everyone,

I recently moved to JC, and I’m hoping to get some advice from those familiar with this area, to include Hoboken, etc. I really want to house-hack with a multi-family property, but I want to know if I’m wasting my time even considering it given the local market. My criteria are pretty strict in terms of location for a place I want to live:

• Walking distance to Newport or ~20 min via public transit
• Near to PATH (<= .75 mi) to be able to get into Manhattan

Everything I've seen in the forums leads me to believe any properties in areas meeting these criteria are going to be highly competitive, and I only have about $100k to put down on a purchase. Am I living in a dreamland thinking I'll be able to find something with these criteria and the amount I have for down payment that will make any financial sense? Based upon my research of the area around the Grove PATH so far, I think $1500-2000/mo is reasonable rent for a unit, which puts me at a cap of around $725k for a property (FHA PMI is killer…). The rough $725k assumes the $100k down payment and close to a $4k/mo mortgage.

Alternatively, I can go back to looking at SFR if that's a more viable solution. Worst of all, I could just rent since I may only be in the area for one to two years but it could be longer.

Thank you all in advance, and I look forward to hearing some of your thoughts.

Chris