All Forum Posts by: Danielle Hayes-Ward

Hi guys, Ok so I need some help on a decision. My mothers house is in preforclosure and being short sold for $60K. It's current value is about $76K. It's a single family 3-1 with backyard, driveway and large 2 car garage, close to park and public transportation. It needs a some plumbing work in the kitchen. Kitchen and bathroom fix up. Everything else minor repairs. She said there's no tax liens. The bank is still paying the taxes. Her home is in the same town as my home. She does not live in the property anymore, she rents somewhere else. So it's vacant. From market research so far, (I could be wrong this is my first time from an investor standpoint) it can rent maximum for $1150. My husband and I are considering purchasing her home and renting it out. However, since we're still recouping from buying our own house outright last year, We may only have enough for 20% downpayment and closing costs. Could this possibly be a good deal? My personal home tax range is about $4,500/yr. and I'm guessing hers is in the same range more or less. I haven't done my full research and calculations yet. Should I persue this as my first actual investment property due to the very low cost? Any ideas? Suggestions? Interests?

Hi Kevin, Every township differs but when I bought my home I renovated the kitchen and bathrooms and had to get permits. As a single family home we were able to do the repairs on our own. But if it were a multi family it was city law that we'd have to use licensed professionals whether we occupied it or not. Even when we had to put a fence up in the backyard we needed a permit. The home was a HUD so we could have gotten away with fixing it without permits because the town really didn't know how the inside looked. But to be safe in case of an exit strategy, like if we decided to sell later, we wanted to make sure we had our ducks in a row since it was our first home. And to avoid any possible penalties if caught doing renovations without permits! My suggestion, get the permits necessary!

Buyer

Hi Nicole, Hopefully we will meet in the near future. I'm a beginner investor located in Irvington NJ. Downtown Newark is going through a lot of new development I see. Are you involved with area?

So you guys are saying even for one multifamily property you should definitely have 1mil coverage, right?

Thanks Guys for all the info. We live in northern, NJ and Huds are scarce!! But some good ones come around once in a while. We currently live in his parents 2 family home with other siblings and I'm dying to move (but he doesn't want to rent)!! So our plan was to get a good deal on a HUD home to utilize the 50% deal, live in it for our mandatory 3 yrs with expectations to move and rent it out afterwards. In the meantime we will be able to buy a multi-family property within that time frame that will just be rented out. Then repeat buying more multi-family properties and eventually get into commercial properties of 10+ units after gaining experience. That's the plan at least!

Hi, so my fiancé and I are planning to purchase a HUD home in nj since we can utilize the "Good Neighbor" option where we'll get 50% off the asking price (because he's an officer). I think this would be a good choice as our first investment property. Of course repairs will be needed but considering a low mortgage from the discount, it should be a good move. Any thoughts or suggestions about HUD homes?