All Forum Posts by: Shawn Mcenteer

House hacking in New Jersey is the ultimate way to kick off 2025 for aspiring real estate investors. It’s one of the easiest strategies for new investors to break into today’s competitive market. By purchasing a property and renting out portions of it, you can offset your mortgage, build equity, and start generating passive income immediately. With New Jersey’s strong rental demand and diverse property options, house hacking offers a practical and accessible path to financial freedom. Don’t just own a home—let it work for you!

If you think New Jersey is not for investing or you can't invest successfully here because of the laws, I am here to say it is possible. My wife and I are over 10 years in without missing a single payment of rent consistently raising rents year over year.  We Cash Flow, Appreciate (BIG TIME) and you can also!

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Hi @Andy S. 3x monthly rent for income has worked well.  You can go as low as 2.5x in some cases but NJ tends to produce enough traffic/applicants where 3x should be minimum unless property is over priced.

5 units make a huge difference in NJ. There is a lot more state regulations and lending laws change when 5 units or great. If I were you keeping the property as 4 units and renting out bonus unit under the radar may be your best option especially if you plan to refi or do HELOC while occupying.

Hi @Ron Sausa what's great about real estate is there are plenty of people that have done what it is you are looking to do. Easiest thing is to align with those people. For example, when I first starting investing I connected with investors from BP. I found one who's strategies made sense, 10 years later my wife and I have been financial free for about 5 years now by leveraging the concept of house hacking. If you want to fix and flip, find that person and repeat what works. If you want to wholesale, align with an investor doing it. The beauty of REI is there is no need to make the mistake my wife I made early on thinking we could do it ourselves. When we aligned with the right people we went from slow lane to (very) fast lane.

Hi @Sam Mishra what's more important for you, affordability or Jersey City  area?   I get a lot of people who start off with the idea of JC becuase of how close it is to NYC.  Most need proximity to the city.  When running numbers, especially on small multis more western markets with direct access to NYC tend to be more favorable from the numbers stand point and many of these towns offer 30 minutes or less taking commuting lines. So if affordability is the goal looking at wider range is something I would suggest.  If JC is a must, that's fine you'll do well with appreciation and rent increasing depending on the market with in city.

Hi @Paola Astrid majority of time anything  Newark, NJ I suggest selling if you can.  The cities laws make landlord very difficult for raising rents and evicting tenants.  There are much more landlord friendly towns in New Jersey.

Hi @Damien Andrews welcome to BiggerPockets.  New Jersey is a great place to invest especially if you are open minded to the idea of house hacking.  Hands down one of the most efficient ways of learning the ins and outs of real estate investing without taking on to much at once.  Have you considered the idea of house hacking as an option?

Hi @Sanjay Singh any particular reason why you don't want to start your investing journey in New Jersey?   If you are just starting it sounds like house hacking may be an option for you.  If house hacking new jersey is a possibility for you I will let you know in most cases it will be financially more beneficially than just about any out of state option.  

Can you owner occupy any of them?   That would be easiest way to get cash out at lower rate otherwise you'll need to taking investor style loan and pay higher rate.

Hi @Desiree Doubrox sounds like poor management.  I have college rentals and plenty of clients with college rentals around Seton Hall in South Orange and Maplewood.  We attract high quality tenants.  Unfortunately many landlords take the first group they find in these situations and come from the ideology that all college students are slobs so no sense offering anything nice.  If property is done right even in todays market you can hit 1% rule and attract very desirable college students.