All Forum Posts by: Shawn Mcenteer

I’m sure I can invest somewhat closer to me but it’s very pricey I’m in NJ. I wouldn’t mind the tri state. 

 Hi @Timothy Newsome is house hacking out of the question for you in NJ?   I run into this issue frequently where NJ investors are looking into out of state thinking it is cheaper, that's not always the case.  The price of homes may be lower out of state but the down payment becomes much more plus the cost of having boots on the ground.   $300k Property out of state will cost you $75k in down payment.  $1,000,000 in New Jersey will cost you $50k down payment. Low down payment with potential for huge rent increase year over year making house hacking very advantageous in New Jersey.

Welcome @Ashley Guerra New Jersey is a great place to invest.  I spend majority of my time in central and North Jersey.  If you need help with landlord laws, house backing strategies, or traditional MTR investing specific to New Jersey happy to help.

Quote from @Christopher Morris:

Hey Shawn, thanks for the reply. I’d love to keep house hacking but I think this next one has to be the last one to keep the miss’ happy. Otherwise, I agree with your strategy. 

Being this next house hack will likely be my last, this is why I’m trying to think of other creative strategies. 

I hear you Christopher.  I will say this short term sacrifice can lead to major long term gains.  Having 4 kids moving property to property was not always a walk in the park for us.  We now live in the a single family "forever home" because we felt the needs to settle with our kids getting older, long story short we want to get into a multi family again. Really itching for it knowing how much faster and easer it is to acquire properties. Best part about real estate there is no wrong answer, house hacking or not there is always a way to make it work. 

Hi @Alan NA if you are open minded to different strategies 1% rule is alive just over the river in NJ.  I have close on multiple properties in 2024 that are 1% or great in New Jersey.  The price to enter is a bit more expensive but we are seeing 1% on certain deals. 

HI @Zachary Sakena putting property into LLC in my opinion depends on that strategy you are looking to implement for next property and if you want to leverage property moving out of into LLC. Something to keep in mind is the lending options change when in LLC, so leverage owner occupied loans for Refi/HElOC etc go away once you move out. Make sure you situate (if you plan to) prior is crucial. Personally looking back at it switching into LLC was a more of a headache for me and did not do much for adding a level of protection that insurance did already handle.

@Raju Penmatcha plenty of those.  A matter of fact that was a huge metric for my me and my wife because we were implementing a house hacking strategy moving property to property with 4 kids.   Having good schools played huge part in the properties we purchased.  

Hi @Raju Penmatcha plenty of people are invest in SFR. The question I will ask is would rather step or a dollar to pick a dime or just pick up the dollar? SFR are very tough, they have potential for certain niches like college rentals or rent by the room strategy. You can make SFR work but extremely tough in traditional sense. MFR have a much higher success rate in New Jersey. Collecting 2-4 rents for 1 property tends to offset taxes more favorably. Long story short, numbers are much more favorable with MFR.

Hi @Christopher Morris I'll let you know my wife and I got to Fi via house hacking in New Jersey. Plain and simple the reason we were able to acquire the properties we have over the years is because we leverage low money down loans. We have never purchased a home for more than 10% down. Most of the homes we have purchased are 5% down. The way I see it is most homes will cost you 25% down and renovations out of state will be difficult or very expensive so the ability to force appreciation becomes tough. Most out of states deals end up looking like an IRA, decent returns, safe but meant for very long term to get anywhere. BRRR house hacking using 5% down loan and applying down payment to renovations forcing appreciation is tough to beat and allows you to move quickly in NJ.

The concern with out of state investing is your money goes to down payment and property management. Doing a BRRR strategy in the house you is not difficult, especially when connecting with local investors already doing it. The good news about BRRR is it will fast track your investing goals. The reason I know this is because my first duplex was a complete gut, I had no clue what I was doing I just believed in the end result and trusted the people I was connected with locally. in a few short years 1 property has produced over a $1/2 million in equity, thousands in cash flow, was leverage to buy another property which does the same and leverage to buy a small cash flowing business.

The way I see it is 25% down out of state means $100k in down payment/closing cost to obtain turnkey property that gains equity similar to an IRA or 5% down managing a renovation in the property your living in which in turn pays yourself from the equity gains which allows you to get to multiple house hacks very fast.

I have dozens of clients doing this in New Jersey most of which come from no construction background, they simply use preferred vendors we have in place (not GC's) which lowers renovations cost because there is no middle man. 

Year over year rent increases, icing on the cake. Seeing a $100-300 increase on a single unit is common in NJ.  

30 day or greater stay is not the issue with Irvington. The issue is legally be allowed to raise rents and getting around what the city believes is fair market rents. Irvington is very similar to newark, which has very strict laws with regard to rent increases.