Newbie from Secaucus, NJ - Trying to House Hack in Northern NJ

[Greg De Sciscio]

Hello BP,

My name is Greg and I'm new to the BiggerPockets community. I grew up and spent most of my life in Northern New Jersey. I currently work in Clifton as the Creative Director of a small web firm. I discovered BP through a friend about a month ago and have been listening to podcasts, reading the forums, guides, articles, and attending webinars (well, one so far). I've also been reading Chad Carson's Retire Early With Real Estate and am fascinated by the concepts and stories of other real estate investors.

At the beginning of 2016 I took control of my finances and aggressively paid my way out of $25k worth of credit card and student loan debt (huge "thank you" to the Personal Finance subreddit for being a fantastic resource). I began investing in stocks and retirement about two years ago, and now I believe I'm ready to get my feet wet with real estate.

I'm currently in the process of searching for my first property. My goal is to house hack a small multi-family (2–4 units) somewhere in North Jersey. I've been looking at the following markets:

• Jersey City
• Union City
• Lyndhurst
• Bloomfield
• Garfield
• North Arlington
• Kearny
• Wallington

I attended the "90 Day Challenge" webinar last Wednesday, and since then I've connected with a real estate agent and have been speaking with a couple of lenders to try and figure out my budget. The options here for multi-families in my price range are limited, but I believe I can make this work if I find a good enough deal.

I'm nervous, but excited about this new venture. I'd love to connect with investors, agents, contractors, lawyers, or anyone else in this wonderful community. I'm open to hearing any advice you'll give me. I'm already so grateful for what I've learned here, and I'm looking forward to meeting people and learning more.

Best,

Greg

[Darren Sager]

@Greg De Sciscio welcome to BiggerPockets.  I started more than 20 years ago with a house hack in Maplewood.  The long term effects of purchasing that property still have broad effects on my life today (still own it).   As for finding any "good deals" I personally don't think that many exist right now.  I think that there are opportunities and you need to weed thru those to find the one that you can turn into something worthwhile.  Northern NJ's supply overall of homes is low and is anticipated to keep getting lower because demand is there, and the amount of homes on the market is limited.  The economics of this is for another post, however for you and everyone else.  

Try to find people who you can work with that will bring you value after you do your first transaction.  Most realtors, attorneys, contractors, etc.  aren't investors themselves so best you try to find those who actually have direct experience in what you're trying to do.  It'll make the biggest impact for you long term doing so because anyone can help you find a place.  It's everything that takes place after that you'll be dealing with for however long you own that property that you're going to need help with when you start off.  And the majority of the people out there who don't have that experience won't be able to be there for you when you need them to.  

As for the markets you're looking at I would say that some hold better promise than others in my opinion.  It really depends on what you can afford that should dictate where you should be hunting, as well as what type of renters you're trying to appeal to.