Stuck Beginner investor

[Anthony Vigilante]

Hello Everyone,

I am a newbie investor looking to invest in buy & hold in Central Jersey in the 200k-350k range with a minimum of $200 monthly return and an 8% coc.

I have this mapped out but I cannot seem to understand picking a market. I see places like Newark, Trenton, and Camden and keep reading pros and cons on each and there does seem to be a lot more risk there than other markets in the area. 

I have also looked into Hackensack, Perth Amboy, New Brunswick, and a lot of the Middlesex area and am struggling to find something telling that would make them a solid place to keep looking.

So I am here to ask if anyone could provide some information to guide me in picking a market. Open to all suggestions, I would love to hear and learn from everyone.

Thank you in advance :).

[Nelly R.]

@Anthony Vigilante Hi! Fellow NJ investor/realtor just adding my 2 cents. Congrats on making the move! I will probably never understand how people invest that much money and only aim for $200/month in cashflow. It just doesn't make logical sense to me. I don't even know areas where you could spend that much and even get an incredible amount of appreciation to make up for it.

But then again, I'm one of the ones you mentioned who invests in Camden. Although majority of my homes have appreciated slighted (very slightly....lol), I mainly focus on cashflow....so perhaps our goals are very different. I have clients who buy in Camden and Trenton areas and their numbers are great as well. And they spend nowhere near $200-300k. I truly believe it can be done for less, or for more cashflow. You could buy multiple properties with that amount. Good luck!!