Hello from South Jersey/Philadelphia

[Yvette Chung]

Hello everyone!

My name is Yvette and I just wanted to post a quick note to introduce myself here. I was born and raised in Hong Kong but have lived in New Jersey for over 15 years now. It has only been a couple of weeks since I discovered BP but have truly been hooked. BP Podcast has become my best friend especially when I am stuck in traffic on my way to work. In my spare time I love playing volleyball, watching movies and I enjoy eating out (who doesn’t?!).

I have always had an interest in real estate especially after I read the Rich Dad Poor Dad book a few years ago. However, I have never been serious enough to make the commitment to really take any actions. And most importantly, what has been holding me back is the fact that I still do not know if I want to stay in the states forever because my entire family is still in Hong Kong. Some friends and relatives have warned me “Don’t do it unless you know you are staying!” So that’s why I never really looked in it seriously. I do, however, feel that I am at a point where I really need to look into it instead of just renting year after year.

I am a relatively young business professional and honestly do not have a ton of money saved up. I can probably come up with about $20K to use to purchase a place and am looking at FHA loans. Ideally, I am trying to find duplexes that I can afford and occupy one of the two units and have the other one rented out. Truthfully, I would be treating this more as a cash-flow property than a "home", even though I am planning on living in one of the units myself.

With that said, I am hoping that I could ask for your advice on a few things here.

-Is $20K just too little money to even think about buying now? Should I just focus on saving up more $? At what point (cash) can I really start thinking about real estate as an investment?

-I currently live in South Jersey but work in the King of Prussia, PA area. Given the property tax difference, would you recommend buying a place in the state of NJ or PA? I would prefer to stay in NJ and I do not want to live all the way up in KoP. Somewhere in the middle would be nice if I have to and if that makes more sense money-wise.

Thank you all in advance and thank you BP for this wonderful platform!