New investor from Edgewater, NJ

[Charles Thomas]

Hello Everyone,

My name is Charles Thomas and I am new to real estate investing. I found BP a couple months back and I am excited to get started with my first deal. My wife and I are currently looking for a multifamily home in the Bergen county area. We plan to move into the home and rent out the other unit (units) to offset our mortgage and property taxes. We are currently paying $2700/month rent for a 1BR/1BA apartment in Edgewater. Although our apartment is great, we know there are better ways of utilizing our hard earned cash.

I am excited to start networking with some other BP members in the area. I will be sure to check out the northern NJ meetup in Summit that I have seen mentioned in other posts.

[Charles Chang]

Hi @Charles Thomas 

Welcome to BP.  I too, also do investment in Bergen county.  Personally, I think Edgewater is great for self occupying with high chances of appreciation.  For the price tag you are paying, I would only imagine that you are probably close to the River or might be even looking out to NYC skyline.  What bother's me is the fact that the competition in Edgewater and Fort Lee are very high.  Not to mention, North Bergen and Weehawken is competing with you.  Returns of condo rentals in these area are so so.  Put all the rules aside, you will be lucky if you can get a 4% return on cash.  Very rarely.  Most of average return on cash is about 2%.

A 1BR/1BA Condo in Edgewater by the river should go for about 250k ~ 500k.  Depending on which area.  Such as City Place, Hudson Park, or older buildings on River Rd.  If you on the higher end of the price tag, you might want to consider cashing out and buy a single home as rental.  Best case is probably get a multi-family unit.  Not only you can buy it as primary and get the lower end of the interest rate, but also have the greatest return on your money.  (Generally speaking)

Good luck!  Maybe we have chances to meet up sometime [contact info removed]