Northern Jersey (Jersey City, Journal Square, West New York, etc)

[Sahil Rohra]

Hi,

I based out of NYC looking for a buy and hold investment property.  Initially I was targeting Chicago, and Columbus but wanted to entertain Northern Jersey as its closer to me.  I am looking for a 1-2 bed for ~$200K.  I understand this is a low price point and can increase budget a bit, if needed.  In addition to the increase in prices (which seem to be across all markets), I've noticed a lot of people are moving to northern jersey, and there seems to be a lot of new luxury developments west of Hoboken, in Jersey City. 

Would appreciate if anyone has any insight into the different neighborhoods in northern jersey, any areas to still avoid despite development, and/or any areas that may be overlooked, etc.  

Thanks in advance.

[Ed W.]

You don't specifically detail your real estate experience and I am a strong advocate of self-management when at all possible (rental experience, good legal guidance, a good understanding of tenant psychology - at a minimum) but you couldn't pay me to have a rental in New York.  The laws so strongly favor tenants that I frankly couldn't put up with landlording there.  Though I have managed a rental in Bayonne, it's been long enough ago that I don't recall how lopsided -if at all -the landlord-tenant laws are in NJ and, of course, they could be worse today than they were then.  

If you are willing to do the hard work of truly vetting a rental manager, you may be better off in the midwest somewhere unless NJ laws are not strongly biased towards tenants and the numbers work.