All Forum Posts by: Justin McElroy

I was trying to rent out a duplex this past winter in Guttenberg and had the same issue with Zillow. I called to try to get it fixed but they said, their system has the property listed as a single family address, not something with two separate units, which is why when you try to list two units there the system can’t register it and just creates two listings for the property that can’t be seen by anyone. The person said that they can’t do anything on there end to fix it as it is just the way it pulls from the local records. 

I tried listing on Zillow, trulia, Realtor.com, all of their affiliate sites, Craigslist and Facebook and wasn’t getting any traffic. Only two people came to look at the place. We ended up putting a sign in the window and ended up finding a tenant that way. Downside is, we had to filter through about 200 phone calls, most of which were tire kickers  

My advice if you decide to put a sign up, make sure you advertise the details of the apt (2 bed 1 bath, etc) and the price. Put it in big bold letters so you can hopefully avoid the tire kickers. 

Best of luck! If I hear if anyone needing a place in the area I’ll send them your way!

Bermeo Properties out of Hoboken has good reviews. Never worked with them as I haven’t needed any help from management companies just yet. I saw their sign when walking by and did a little digging online and saw they received some good reviews. May be worth giving them a ring. 

From what I’ve heard going rate is around 8% around here.  

@Jimmy O'Connor

@John Knisely

@Rich O'Neill

Appreciate the insights here to help me get started doing some research of my own on some of these areas.  I'm a little busy with travel throughout the next month, but I'm hoping to make a trip down there once things slow down for me in July if I can't make it sooner. I'll reach out to see if you guys are available at all when the time comes.

If anyone else is interested in meeting or has any other input, I'm happy to hear it! Off to watch GOT!

Hi All,

I purchased my first house hack up in Hudson County, NJ last summer and now that this is all settled and I have some more cash saved up, I'm looking to invest again.  The market is not impossible, up here, but definitely competitive.

While I'm not ruling anything out up here, because it is a great area to be in due to its close vicinity to NYC, I would love to expand my network and search outside of the state.

I know the Philly market is hot (from what I hear at least), but I'm wondering if there are many opportunities in the surrounding towns/cities outside of Philly, on the PA side, that support multifamily investing (looking for 2+ unit properties).  

I want to plan a trip down there to check things out in the upcoming weeks and was hoping you guys would be nice enough to share a couple different neighborhoods that I should be looking into.  Would be great to connect while I'm down there as well if anyone is interested!

Thanks in advance - looking forward to exploring the area!

Justin

Hi everyone!

Does anyone have a referral for a landscaper that services Hudson County? Looking for someone reliable, to lay quarry rock in the backyard of a property in place of the dirt that's there now...

Thank you!

Newark rent control if you go to the bottom of the page there is a link to the official rent control ordinance: https://www.newarknj.gov/departments/rentcontrol

Jersey city: https://www.jerseycitynj.gov/CityHall/HousingAndDevelopment/housingpreservation/landlordtenantrelations

Hey @Richard Jr Caicedo

I did a 203K in Guttenberg this past summer/fall and can recommend a 203k contractor as well as a consultant for you. I'll send you a message. Not sure how the VA loan works but I'm assuming it's similar. Shoot me a message if you're interested

@Shawn Mcenteer @Lee Ripma@Jon Holdman

Thank you all for the insights! This makes me feel much better for moving forward.

@Lewis Colon Glad this topic helped! Good luck with your future investments!

Hi BP,

There is a lot of talk of a crash or at least a correction being imminent in the near future, so my question is mainly for investors who survived through the 2008 crash, since you've been through it before. That being said, if anyone else has insight here please feel free to add to the conversation!

To give a little bit of background on myself, I am still a newbie. I purchased my first property to "house hack" this past summer. I put 5% down and put a bunch of work into it with an FHA 203K loan. I will eventually move out of this property and will hold it as an investment property. I also want to continue investing and am searching for a BRRRR where I leave no money in the deal with 75% LTV on the refi. As I am thinking into the future and trying to plan things out, I have a couple of questions that are coming up, and I can't seem to find a definitive answer for investment properties.

My question is this, if my property goes under water, but payments are still being made, will the bank 1) ask for an additional down payment? or 2) force foreclosure/short sale?

Also, how does having a property that is underwater, that is still paying for itself, affect my ability to finance more properties when prices are dirt cheap? I would assume they definitely take that account, virtually making it impossible to obtain reasonable financing in the near future, but I don't know this for sure.

Your input is greatly appreciated and if I'm missing any other information feel free to provide additional insight here. I think this would be a great help to not only myself but to this community. And if this is already covered somewhere else, feel free to point me in that direction.

Thanks in advance,

Justin

Ditto to Michaels comment above. $99 well spent. 

That being said you should still have an attorney review for your specific town the rental is in as sometimes there are different rules in different cities. (I.e. rent control etc.)