All Forum Posts by: Eric Waldron

Hi Bigger Pockets,

Currently I live in Warren County NJ in a multifamily 6BR/3Ba house with a detached 3 car garage. The town that I live in, Phillipsburg is not the place I want to raise my daughter. My wife and I want to move to a different town in the surrounding area but the problem is that real estate values have doubled in the last few years. Right now, we pay $1700 a month for our mortgage and taxes. We receive $2050 a month from our tenant in the other half of our house and $275 a month from our garage tenant. If we move we could likely clear $4100-$4500 from both units in the house and a total of $400 from the garage if we rent out the side I have my stuff stored in. So we could be bringing in $4500-$4900 per month minus the $1700 mortgage. With houses we’ve been looking at, $400-$500K our monthly mortgage on the new place would be somewhere in the range of $3200-$3500. In aggregate with the mortgage from our current property and the new one we’d be paying on the high side $5200 and receiving in income $4500 on the low side minus expenses. So there’s a $700 delta. I guess I just have a fear of failure or am scared of committing to an additional $3500 a month mortgage. (FYI I’m reluctant to cash out refi because I have a 3.125% rate on my mortgage). Any thoughts? My income is in the $130K range and my wife’s is 90K ish. Any thoughts or advice?

Hi Bigger Pockets Community,

I’m in the process of renting out my two bay garage here in Warren County NJ. I previously had it rented to a deadbeat who stopped paying and I ended up having to evict him. For current prospective tenants I’m asking for 1 month security deposit, background check and for them to have renters insurance. Am I asking for too much for what amounts to a $375/month rental?

I currently own a 2 unit multifamily as a house hack. Our mortgage is $1550 per month and we bring in $2050 for the other unit plus and extra $350 a month for rented garage space. My wife and I want to move to a SFR and my question is when should I do it? Houses in NJ are quite expensive however there's a 4BR/1BA up the street from our house selling for 285K. With 15% down our mortgage would be $2300 a month and we'd still cash flow from our rentals down the street as our current unit would probably rent for $2000 a month and I could probably get another $150 a month for the other garage bay. So my options are to keep our cash flow as it is currently which is about $850 a month or move up the street and make around $700 a month but now my units are all being fully paid for by tenants.

My buddy just sold his 3br/1.5ba condo in Blackwood NJ for 245k when just two years ago they bought it for 150k. I live in North Jersey in Phillipsburg and it’s the same deal up here for homes under 300k.