All Forum Posts by: Bukki Fabiyi

Hi Everyone

I'm looking for some advice from anyone with experience or knowledge of the Jersey City property market.

I'm looking at two properties, both are condos,3 bedrooms 2 baths, both listed for $699k, one in Journal Square, the other in the Heights Jersey City by Liberty Avenue. The property in Journal Square is 8 minutes walk away from the Path station whilst the property int he Heights is 23 minutes walk from the nearest light rail (9th street light rail). Neither come with parking, the property is the heights is brand new, the journal square property is older, although the apartment itself is newish (doesn't need any work). Both have similar size square footage, although the Journal Square property has 3 full sized bedroom, the Heights property has 1 full sized an 2 small bedrooms.

I currently live in downtown Jersey City as a renter and I'm buying to live in initially, but expect to move out within a year or so, therefore, the ability to rent out the property is important. I want positive case flow when I do rent out the property so I would appreciate insight from anyone who lives in or has invested in either of these areas. Personally I prefer the Height property just based on appearance, it's a nicer property, however, my reservation is its distance from transport and local amenities like grocery stores. Any living in the heights who can advice on how easy it is to access local amenities, would be helpful.

Also, ability to rent a 3 bed in the heights vs a 3 bed in Journal Square, any thoughts on this? 

Journal Square seems sketchy in certain parts, is my assessment of that correct? Is it a safe area? The same question for the Heights, is it safe?

Appreciate insights on the above, as I'm about to make a decision in the coming days on these properties.

Thank you

Thanks Andrew, great advice re: flood zones and insurance and the impact on taxes which I guess is to be expected.

Thanks, really useful

This is really useful Seth, thank you! Great advice regarding not focusing on the numbers, definitely food for thought. Were you an out of state investor for Baltimore? 

Hi Everyone, I'm a newbie about to start my real estate investment journey in the US. I'm an "accidental" landlord for a property in the UK but been spending some time to understand the best states/towns/cities to invest in the US. I'm focussing on single family and small-multi family units using BRRRR. I live in New Jersey (way too expensive to BRRRR here!) so now looking at Atlanta-GA, Baltimore-MD and Houston-TX. Anyone done flips, rentals or BRRRR in any of these cities? If so, any recommendations on best neighborhoods? Thanks in advance! :-)

Thanks @Peter M. When you say "line of credit backed by real estate" are you referring to a HELOC? Does that require drawing equity from an existing property (i.e. if I have $50k equity in a property, draw $30k as downpayment for another property?). Or does it mean taking some kind of loan elsewhere (i.e. from another lender) but using the equity from the existing property as a collateral against the loan?

In my situation where I don't have an existing US property other than a cash downpayment (i.e. from savings), what other options are there for someone like me to buy a first investment property? Thanks again!

Hi All

I'm new to BiggerPockets but heard great things about this community so excited to join and learn from others. I live in New Jersey, work in New York and moved here from London, UK about 3 years ago. I have a property which was my ex-residential in London which I now rent out (accidental Landlord). Now, I am interested in investing in Real Estate for long-term growth/appreciation. 

I'm considering starting with Rentals but trying to learn more about the US markets (best states/locations to buy) and also trying to learn more about funding strategies. I've been on a few other Real Estate Investing forums and have heard people talk about using Line of Credit for downpayment and then using income from the rent to pay off the credit. Has anyone done this, if so, any advice? I have fairly decent credit score, I can get a 0% interest free card, but wanted to understand the implications of drawing funds from a credit card as a downpayment on a property. I must also mention that I don't own any property yet in the US, so cannot draw equity from one property as downpayment for another.

Also any advise on other funding strategies for downpayment? Appreciate any help/advice on this :-)

Thanks