My first deal, building equity, subdivision, and the next step

[Account Closed]

I've been using BP as a resource for a few weeks now and really feel compelled to contribute and be part of the community. 

I purchased my first deal a little over 2 years ago. It was a SFR shortsale found through MLS. I put my offer in as a backup and ended up getting the deal. It took almost exactly one year to close (absolute nightmare). The house was in very good shape overall in a very desirable area of east Morris County NJ. I purchased the home for 228,900 using a 3.5% FHA loan. Refinanced after 6 months into a 30 year conventional. House appraised for 300k. Interestingly, the house is on a double lot and I will be able to subdivide the lot at some point, but more on that later.

Initially, I had a roommate renting the upstairs bedroom for a year for 650/mo plus half utilities. This provided me with enough funds to replace the roof and catch up on some minor deferred maintenance.

Even without a roomate, figuring in the tax benefits, my monthly payments are lower than what rent would be for a crappy apartment. And now I have a big chunk of equity,

I finally decided to do something with with my untapped equity and was able to secure a HELOC for 40k. I also have about 30k liquid and access to another 40k or so in low interest money.

My goal now is to purchase a rental property with these funds and then do a cashout refi. I am looking at the auctions and REOs in the Morris county area and see some opportunities. Around here the deal has to be very good because of the higher tax rates. I want to try the land lording thing to see if it's something I want to do. I'm also interested in flipping. I think I may have a better nose for flipping. Im a DIY type person, but a really good contractor is someone I need on my team if I want to do a flip. I work full time and some nights so I can't be at the job site everyday.

I have also listed my unsubdivided lot for sale on mls to gauge potential interest. Once subdivided I will have .3 acres of rather prime land worth in the area of 110-120k. It's going to cost me about 15k to do the subdivision and there will have to be some improvements that need to be made (new driveway on my side/ retaining wall) once I sell. Ideally I would like to partner with a builder on this project.

So that's what I have going on. I look forward to networking with people in there area and building my business.