Two Family Purchase for $255,000

[Kevin Mallon]

My wife and I are looking to buy our first investment property.  Our primary goal is to create a steady passive income stream.  We  hope to be able to purchase around one property per year.  

We are thinking of buying a 2 family home in Linden, NJ for $255,000. Needs about $5,000 of work to achieve desired rents. Each unit is 3 BD 1 Bath. Total rents should come in right around $2,900. Tenants pay utilities. Taxes are high at $10,900 - we are confident we can get them reduced through a tax appeal but are not coating on that for the deal to work. Putting 25% down ($63,750), 30 year mortgage at 4.75% = $1,000/month. Total PITI = $2,000/month. So that leaves $900/month to cover repairs, maintenance & vacancies. Vacancy rate for 3Bd in this area should be very low, so I'm estimating 20% (or around $600/month) to cover those expenses, which leaves us with $300/month estimated NOI (we plan to manage the property ourselves at least at the outset) Cash on cash would be about 5% annually. If we can get property taxes reduced by $100/month and rents of $3,000 (both very realistic) our cash on cash return jumps to over 8%.

We also strongly believe that area is ripe for growth due to excellent public transportation to NYC (walking distance to 35 minute train ride to midtown Manhattan).  

Since this would be our first deal would love to get any feedback from this great community. Thanks!