All Forum Posts by: Gabriel Sastre

Hi all, I own a duplex in Salem County Nj. Crime has been rising a little and with my property having newer renovations and standing out a little more it’s caught some attention. There have been multiple break in attempts, one successful on one side. Only damage so far is some window trimming from trying to pull off a window. Luckily nothing serious yet. Each time reported to local pd which is surprising only two blocks away. But after an incident report that’s where it’s left at. Tenants have recently installed some cameras but nothing high tech. 

What measures have you taken to ensure some safety and deter local nuisance? Ive been considering motion detecting flood lights around the property. Would like to do cctv to back it up but not sure about physical location of box.

thanks in advance

Good morning, has anyone ever had any success with soundproofing between side by side duplexes. Lately both sides have been complaining more and more about noise, they both have children so fault goes both ways. But I’m curious whether it be now or during a vacancy if there’s an effective way to help soundproof a little better aside from the obvious open up all the drywall and insulate? 

Hello, I’m here in South Jersey prepping for my first eviction. Tenant is almost a full month behind and is just an all around pain in general. Any basic advice or tips on making the eviction process as stress free as realistically possible. Thanks in advance

Hey everyone, I recently started on my real estate Journey. Made some mistakes and landed my first investment. Looking forward to getting to know more people in the community and see what I can learn from them and hopefully teach others!

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

Bought a previously renovated Side by Side Duplex. Made some mistakes along the way but in the end ended up with a cash flowing property.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

The market potential

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Through a standard real estate app, through a realtor

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional

How did you add value to the deal?

The house was pre listed before final stages of renovation was completed. I’m handy and have a team so I offered to complete it myself saving the seller thousands and costing me little to nothing

What was the outcome?

I ended up with a cash flowing investment

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Lessons I learned, over research on the area you’re looking to invest in. I wasn’t familiar with certain Landlord laws in that city so it ended up costing me time and money delaying getting tenants. Luckily I was able to work through it.

In addition, I purchased the property at market cost. So even though I’m cash flowing it prevents me from being able to pull equity.

Finally have two properties I’m interested in. One being a flip the other a buy and hold. When going through a hard money lender are you guys “shopping around or what’s your general go to?

Is it frowned upon or considered a bad idea to use a hard money lender to both finance the purchase and rehab of a property for a beginning investor?

Living in an area where private lenders aren’t found that often.

What do you recommend as far as financing an investment?

@Fahadbin Alam Jody is right aha from personal experience I can say the only damage I’ve ever seen a cat do in a home is to the tenants furniture. Kids (also from personal experience) are the real life versions of Tasmanian devils lol

@Salvatore Lentini

This thread is amazing with information. Me personally my biggest holdbacks in jumping into

This business is

1. Debt. Not drowning but the fear of starting without having my car paid off or all my ccs paid off

2.Capital potentially losing my “cushion” and having to worry about how to pay my bills

3. credit. Not poor but not perfect. Being able to get a loan whether it be conventional or hard money to fund my first deal

Good morning everyone. I’m new to the game but eager to catch up! Just want to wish everyone their blessings and hope we can connect soon!