Real Estate advice. Perhaps, a mentor!

[Stephanie Blair]

Hi everyone. I am new to real estate and been wanting to invest for sometime now however the market has not been on my side. I orginally was looking into duplex properties in the New Jersey area and planned to house hack. I am now looking into condos being that the price for duplexs in NJ are not within my budget anymore. Would you agree that condos are still a good way to start investing? Please share.  

[Jonathan Greene]

You are getting horrendous advice above as it is not relevant to NJ. You will get absolutely nowhere pulling lists for MF and calling owners in NJ, those are ALL going to be cash purchases and everyone is calling those lists. It will waste all of your time and money for no reason since the prices off-market in NJ for multi are just as high as list prices on-market because people know their value. Telling new investors who are looking to house hack to look for seller financing is telling them to spend a year tossing air into the wind in hopes it turns into a crystal. Condos in NJ can be a better investment for a first-time investor, as long as the restrictions are open to renting when you are done. Condos won't appreciate as much as other properties, but your reduced CapEx and livability are definite plus upgrades. You should NOT in any way consider doing a first duplex 203k in NJ. The towns are very difficult on permitting right now and you will end up with way more leverage than you want and then less rent since properties don't rent close to 1 percent rule in NJ. If your price point is under 400k, looking for a MF in Northern NJ is not going to happen and if it does, it will come with more costs, so you can either wait it out, go farther out if the commute works, to Morris Co, or find a condo that you can live in for a year, with low HOA, rent it the year after you leave, and then the following year you reassess its value.