All Forum Posts by: Gargi Keeling

I was raised in New Jersey and live in California now and remotely manage one property in Ewing. I like the price point for purchase and the neighborhood is safe and appreciating. However, there are a lot of hassles with fire inspection and certificate of occupancy and just general bureaucratic stuff. Be mindful of this whenever you look into any area here. Also different townships have different tax rates. Always look at the listing and check the taxes and assess value to compute the actual tax rate. Trenton is quite high for example.

Good to know about Union City, NJ - I haven't gone far enough in the process to know. I AM familiar with Ewing, NJ (good deals, but lots of bureaucracy).

I have a realtor in Boise that regularly sends me info on deals. I may move on one in the next year. Let me know if you want his contact info.

D'Andre - I'm much older than you and I"m on my second marriage (10 years and counting, though!). Perspective on money/finance is one of the biggest influences on a relationship, so please have these critical conversations now before you get married. But let me share how I eventually got my husband to come around on all this real estate investing stuff.

I have been bullish on REI for years now (I did a 1031 exchange using a condo I owned before I met him - now a 4BR/2BA w/ 5 renters) but he would always disparage my decision saying it was a 'bad' investment. I figured out that he was comparing REI with stock market investment (he used to sell bonds) and he was just looking at it from the perspective of cash on cash gains. Once I knew what his baseline for comparison was, I focused on how REI had advantages over stock market investing. Granted, we do both but the conversation is about diversification. In the end, we found common ground on the REI goal of cash flow using cash on cash analysis. I also pointed out the differentiators for REI over the markets:

1. tax benefits (expenses, depreciation)

2. tangible & incoming producing asset once mortgage is paid off (showing him amortization schedule mapped to rental income helped)

3. Regardless of political and market factors, people will need a place to live and small, affordable rental units will always be in demand.

So my perspective on your situation would be to:

1. Have the conversation ASAP and if needed, get a 3rd party facilitator to help with the discussion. If anything, they can make notes on where you align and where you still need to work through issues.

2. Ask your fiancée to articulate her perspective on growing wealth and how it relates to quality of life (time, health, family, etc.)

3. Based on 1&2, frame your proposal in the context of what has meaning to her and find common ground on one strategy. 

GOOD LUCK and kudos to you for having such foresight at a young age! I got married very young the first time and I didn't think about any of this back then.

I was hoping someone would have answered your question because I had a basic question - what is a twin? I"m looking at one and having trouble understanding if this is a duplex or just a multi-level SFH?

@Rahul Handa we have a friend who is a realtor up in the Sacramento area and has lived there for over 20 years. He’s very trustworthy and has shown me several properties up there including Folsom and other bedroom communities with good employers nearby and good prospective tenant pools.

My take on Sacramento city area is that there are some high-end neighborhoods that would give you a hassle free tenants but not good cash flow. Also, some of the nice Victorians I saw in the city needed a lot of work and I wasn’t very comfortable with the types of tenants is on there. They left the condition of the units in disrepair and filth. But I don’t live up there so I couldn’t check on the opportunities very consistently.

Let me know if you want an introduction to our realtor friend up there. He will give you a more up-to-date assessment of what’s going on. One more thing, it is the state capital so there will always be government jobs up there.

I don't live in NJ anymore but my brother lived in Union City up until a few years ago and I checked out a few properties in the area back then. There seems to be a lot of growth near the light rail and I saw some lovely multi-families that needed some work. Here's a multi-family real estate query for Union City that may help: https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Union-City_NJ/type-multi-family-home/pnd-hide/sby-1

If I were you, I'd do a lot of deal analysis in the target markets (I have a realtor in Boise, if you want me to share) and then be ready to move quickly on the sale of your existing investment and purchase of the new one. It sounds like you don't have specific properties lined up so I'd be careful about not exceeding the 1031 exchange timing requirements (180 days total timeline see https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-news/fs-08-18.pdf).

I lucked out by selling and buying within a few weeks of each other, but I delayed the close of my sale property to make sure I didn't get crunched for time in the purchase of the new property. This was within the same state, so it was easier. I'd give yourself more time given that you are still researching properties out of state.

Same question here - specifically looking to invest in downtown Princeton or Princeton junction.