Househacking in East Rutherford/Carlstadt Advice

[Chow Ahmed]

Hi All,

I am a first time poster and first time buyer. I have been listening to BP podcasts, Googling acronyms, reading forums, and searching Zillow/Redfin/Realtor/etc for about a month now. I am searching the Northern Jersey area - so far I've specifically been looking from West New York down to south Weehawken/Union City, then out west from Carlstadt down to northern Lyndhurst.

My criteria is as follows -

1. <$600k - min 2 units at least 1 bed/1 bath
2. Turnkey or close to it
3. Low crime
4. Commute to port authority 1 hour MAX
5. Able to walk everywhere - I will not have a car. Open to biking around.
6. Some semblance of a downtown area within a couple miles
7. We are a couple - enjoy nature, going out to eat/drink maybe once or twice a month.

As of now, I plan to do a 30 year FHA owner occupied - after 1 year I will move out so all units will be rented out and I should be cashflow positive around $500 or so. For that one year, I am willing to pay up to $1k (PMI, tax, mortgage, repairs, etc.) and the tenant rent should be able to cover the rest. So if the average rent is between $1.6k and 2.2k, I can probably get away with between total cost per month @$2.6k and $3.2k.

With all this being said - my favorite town is East Rutherford which seems to hit all of my criteria (+low property taxes) based on my initial internet research. I plan to do a drive-by this weekend and walk around to get a better feel. However, I wanted to ask you, BP NJ community, can you 1) let me know if my thought process and criteria's sound reasonable - I am hoping to get my first deal ASAP, but not before my due diligence and 2) can you offer what other towns may fall within my criteria?

Thanks a ton!!!