Newbie - Jersey City, NJ

[Tyler Wolf]

Hi BP community,

My name is Tyler, originally from Freehold, NJ now living in Jersey City. I recently graduated college with a Bachelor’s of architecture and currently work as a field superintendent at the World Trade Center. I’m fascinated by all aspects of a building’s life - architecture, design, construction & real estate and I aspire to delve into the ownership realm of it.

My goal is to buy a multi-family house in the Hudson/Essex county area to use as a rental property. The idea is to invest in upcoming City such as Harrison, Kearny, Jersey City or Newark and rent the property out to young professionals that need to commute to NYC.

My price range is 250-400k and I plan on investing within 6-9 months. 

I’m excited to be a part of this new community and eager to learn from some of you veterans out there! 

[Moises Mari]

Hi @Tyler Wolf, I took a similar approach when I graduated school a number of years ago. I worked in the city and started investing in Hudson county, Essex County, including Newark, and currently reside in another investment property in Bloomfield.  It really depends what you are looking for. For the most part Kearny, Harrison, and Jersey City are more of equity plays as cash flow will not be a great as Newark for example.  Not to mention that Jersey City prices are definitely going up quick and based on the demand, any great deals that come to the market are difficult to get as most go into bidding wars. 

Kearny and Harrison are not as competitive but taxes and property prices do not leave a lot of room for cash flow. Newark on the other hand has little better numbers in regards on cash flow due to property prices not being as high as the other areas, as well as lower taxes in comparison to the other areas you mentioned.   

Your budget is reasonable for any of the areas, except for probably some areas in Jersey City. Let me know if you have any additional questions about the areas. Best of luck!