Phillipsburg NJ Multifamily

[Matthew Posteraro]

Hello! I am a new investor and have been saving up for a down payment on my first investment property for me and my wife. We have narrowed it down to the Phillipsburg, NJ and Easton, PA area. We are planning to buy and house hack in our first house, then rinse and repeat this process for the next 5-10 years. While Phillipsburg is our primary desired location, we have run into the issue of the town not allowing new multi-family houses to be built as well as not allowing ADUs to be built.

The numbers for us do not work in this market if the property is not at least a duplex and/or able to easily be converted into an ADU (which we have seen on two occasions while touring houses) to give us the ability to create a 1bedroom 1bath or studio apartment. What would be the advice for this situation? Would it be wise to not waste our time even looking in that market anymore? Are there other options, or possibly wording things differently to the zoning board in the town differently to give myself a better chance of being approved for permits regarding an ADU?

As always, any helpful tips or guidance is very appreciated. Thank you!!

[Matthew Posteraro]

Why Phillipsburg, NJ?  The place is an old industrial/rail town.  Little growth.  The town could get hit really hard in an economic downturn. You are better off with Philly or a suburb of Philly.

Great Question, I work in Easton as a nurse and my wife is also a nurse. NJ provides what is called a compact licensing agree between over 25 different states currently. This makes it much easier for her as a traveler to work in different states for contracts. PA does not have this currently and therefore you are forced to go through the entire license process for any state that you want to work in which can take months and hundreds of dollars each time.