Hello from Montclair NJ

[Sean Wang]

Hello everyone,

Greeting from Montclair NJ. This is Sean - a newbie real estate investor. I'm glad to find this amazing forum and hope to learn real estate investment and connect with some of you guys. 

As an introduction, I thought I would share my limited real estate investment experience. I went though a bidding war to purchase my two family house in Montclair about a year ago with an offer that's $100k more than asking price. You might think I was crazy (even I sometimes do). But my research based on recent sales back in mid 2017 showed single family houses in Montclair were sold about $80k more than asking price and multi family houses were sold around $100k above asking price. I lost 3 houses before getting mine and each house was getting no less than 5 offers. To make my offer more appealing, I even waived the appraisal contingency because I know my bidding price will be way above the appraised value. Not surprisingly, the property is appraised at asking price and I had to pay the premium by cash. The next year, our town went though assessment and my house is apprised at a much higher value than my neighbors. I've consulted some lawyers and was told there is little chance to appeal due to the recent property sale transaction.  

Sometimes I still feel what I did was irrational. But it is too late to regret so I like to think about the positive side. My house is the best one I saw in the market and it requires no repairs. I literally moved in the next week after close. It's one block away from the train station and bus stop to work. The neighborhood is great and people are friendly. I live in one unit and rent the other. The rent covers a big chunk of my mortgage and property tax. BTW, I didn't know it is called house hacking back then. Now I pay about the same amount of money each month as I was renting before, but that money is paid towards my own equity instead of some landlord. 

There you go. That's all I have with regard to real estate investment. My goal now is to generate passive income. Montclair NJ is definitely not a good market for that. I'm planning to start in class B/C neighborhoods in NJ to get a hands on experience and then invest out of state. PM me if you want to connect. 

[Ryan Paltridge]

Hey @Sean Wang,

Welcome to BP! Congratulations on breaking into the Montclair market. Being a investor and realtor in the area, I know how crazy the bidding wars have been there. I've seen properties going 300-400k over asking! The montclair market is saturated and hard to find deals that cash flow, but there is a tremendous demand in that town, especially from the NYC crowd looking to make the move across the river. 

We sold a single family new construction over the summer that my group built, and I would say 80-85% of people coming to the open houses were from NYC, Jersey City, or Hoboken. In  the long term, I don't think you can lose in that town from an investment stand point. 

Let me know if you ever want to grab a coffee and talk real estate, or if I can help in any way! We're building our second single family new construction there, so i'm in town often. Best of luck!

- Ryan