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Updated over 7 years ago, 03/20/2017
Investing in New Jersey vs. North Carolina
Hello BP community! My very first BP post! Quick intro... I recently left the creative industry (print/digital graphic design, art direction and creative management) to pursue this new passion of mine in real estate investing.
My original plan was to invest in North Carolina and join forces with my sister, who lives there and is a real estate agent. As most of you may already know, NC is a growing place for all things real estate. Not to mention, overall costs relative to New Jersey (where I live) is extremely low. I'm strongly reconsidering that plan and starting to think about flipping homes and investing here in NJ.
How many of you would recommend staying in NJ? I've seen some strong growth projections in NC real estate for the next few years and would hate to miss a window of opportunity.
The Positive: there seems to be a surplus of homes that mostly need "paint and carpet" in the 50k price range. The Negative: uprooting my family (sort of, kids aren't in school yet) and leaving friends behind.
Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!
Best,
Erik
Well I moved form a northern state 10 years ago and i can say as far as "quality of life" goes, North Carolina seems to be a happier place especially in the winter time! Not sure how your market is in New Jersey but i live in Charlotte and there a ton of people exactly like you that are considering moving to our area. North Carolina is a very appealing state. You have everything you could want in one state......(mountains, flatlands, and coastal area) not to mention our winter is very mild! Good luck with your choice!
Thanks for your feedback @Taylor Pelzel. I'm considering Jacksonville, NC where my sister lives to start the business. But I've heard great things about Charlotte and Raleigh and how those markets are about to boom in the next few years.
In what capacity are you involved in investing there? Flipping? If so, any insight or confirmation regarding the catalog of homes available for flipping?
Thanks again!
Hello,
Since I've been investing here in New Jersey for several years I'm comfortable with advising you to stay within the Jersey market. I personally invest (rehab to sell) in Bergen County over to Sussex and then down to Ocean with everything in between. There are deals to be had here with sizable profit margins.
Even with JVing on a deal here if you brought 50k to the table you can walk away with an additional 20-30k on top of your original investment. I k kw the market is hot in the Carolinas but I'm just not sure if you can get the same size of return there.
Gary
Regarding "I've seen some strong growth projections in NC real estate for the next few years..." NC generally or Jacksonville NC specifically? is this (speculatively) based on camp Lejeune numbers expanding? The 2000 census was 66,715 people in J-ville and now it's like.... 69,079 ... a 3.5% increase over 17 years. See ... which shows low growth in this smaller (#14 or #15 in population) NC city.
@Erik Cabral If you are seriously considering Jacksonville, I can probably help you out if you need any assistance. It's a great market for buy and hold right now. Constant influx of new people and pretty good rental rates. Downside to this area is high turnover and unexpected moves (military orders). My office manages a lot of rental properties as well and I see the big turnover, but I also get a tom of calls as soon as we put up a sign.
@Chris Martin I hope that we do see some large growth soon. I am not sure at this point how much we can expect and on what timeframe. (that's probably above my pay grade) but none the less as an agent it seems that prices are starting to climb for the area overall.
@Erik Cabral Welcome to BP!
The decision to invest in NJ or NC comes down to what your strategy is.
If you want to buy and hold NC has much more landlord friendly laws than NJ.
If you are looking to flip Jacksonville may not be the place for you since there is a large amount of new constriction that you'll be competing with. The city still does not have an outer boundary like you are used to in the northern states so often time it is cheaper to move outward rather than rehab existing homes. @Chris Martin hit the nail on the head about population growth. Jacksonville is a company town that exists solely to support the Marine Corps. You will get very little appreciation in this market, mainly cash flow.
About an hour south in Wilmington you may have better luck with flips owing to the fact that its a larger city with a college and a more diverse employment base.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
@Chris Martin The projections I was referring to was specifically Charlotte and Raleigh, not Jacksonville. But thanks for that graph and numbers.
@Thomas Parsley I do have an agent in Jacksonville (my sister). At this point, I'm most likely investing in NJ. I am interested in the NC market though and will continue to monitor the growth and opportunities there. Thanks for reaching out!
Hey @Erik Cabral, Hope all is well big guy. So I am from Union County NJ been here in Greensboro, NC for 18 months and became a full time real estate investor 12 months ago and currently invest ( rehab and sell) in both NJ and NC. When I moved to NC I had about $150k cash to invest. With that and some creative financing I was able to purchase and renovate six houses from March thru July. The fact that I was able to jump into the first few deals without having to worry about getting approved for a hard money loan or hoping people would trust me with their money was what allowed me to immediately jump into deals. I don't think that could have been possible in NJ especially since I was so inexperienced.
Raleigh and Charlotte can get quite pricey as well and possibly not that far off from many NJ areas so be careful there.
I am currently looking for deals in NJ and NC because I have investors in NJ that would like to be part of the renovations so I will continue to buy up north. But for the same amount of money I invest in NJ I can probably purchase two to three more properties in NC doubling or tripling the profits because the yield is about the same per property.
I am not opposed to investing in NJ but your money can go much further down here and you don't have to worry about those hefty monthly carrying expenses know as property taxes that can eat right through your profits if your house sits on the market for whatever reason.
@Erik Cabral Not sure what the property tax rates are like in New Jersey, but in Raleigh they're right around 1%, and Durham around 1.3%. From what I understand this is pretty low compared to other populated cities.
Hi Erik, welcome to the community. This is a great place to get feedback, both reliable and complete BS.. lol.. Not saying any of these posts are BS, there's just a lot out there. I came down about 8 years ago from the DC area and don't regret it one bit, people are just generally nicer and easy going, even in Charlotte and Raleigh. There are a ton of different markets down here to invest in based on your strategy. I know of a turn key rental in Jacksonville available right now or million dollar homes on the ocean or mountains and mobile home parks that make $30k per month and more. If you decide to come down in NC then I welcome you to connect and I'll try to help out where I can.. From High Point..Cheers Everyone.
If it were me, I would hightail it out of NJ - snow and high property taxes are just not for me! :)
- Dawn Brenengen
- Podcast Guest on Show #101
Inventory of homes in Charlotte & Raleigh is quite low. Many flippers are looking at under $200k ARV homes as higher priced ones to flip are hard to find
- Curtis Waters
Originally posted by @Keith N.:
@Erik Cabral Not sure what the property tax rates are like in New Jersey, but in Raleigh they're right around 1%, and Durham around 1.3%. From what I understand this is pretty low compared to other populated cities.
I live in nj. Average property tax is 8500. PLACE IS THE PITS
Erik,
My property taxes are 3.2%.
Such things make NJ a very different real estate market. People always cite the 70% rule when looking for a property to flip. In NJ, a lot of times, finding a house at that rate is just not possible. Plus, your holding costs are going to be much higher. In order to be successful in NJ, you need to be willing to profit less per unit. Volume is key. You'll come across a few good ones, but if you are only looking for optimal deals you're going to go belly up. Or at least, you will have to maintain a steady job on the side.