All Forum Posts by: John Errico

Hey @Leo Don I used Fairfield County Bank for a property in New Haven. Not sure what sort of property you're doing but they were easy to work with, although I think they usually do bigger deals (we were buying a run down 3 family for next to nothing, but we had some personal connections ). Also got pretty far along in the process with Union Savings Bank. I'd happily work with either again--if you'd like to message me I can tell you who I worked with at each if that'd be helpful to you.

Hey @Achi Adamit yea that's a tough question. The building department is super incompetent--it used to be very corrupt but they replaced all those people with (seemingly) idiots. I've heard lots of bad stories about all manner of things having to do with the building department stopping multi-million dollar constructions for crazy things, problem with re-zoning or zoning variances, etc. Even getting permits and routine stuff approved has been a nightmare for me. So I definitely wouldn't call them super investor friendly.

Rent control is an issue if you're looking at 4+ families and/or you're not owner occupying (although the vast majority of housing stock in Union City is 3 or fewer families). For a time it was possible to reset rents by investing money to the building, but that was removed (maybe will change again)--the laws tend to change frequently.

For now there are strict controls on heights of new buildings being constructed (6 or fewer stories) and other developer-unfriendly laws like that. The reality is that the vast majority of the city is comprised of renters, so the elected officials are obviously not super incentivized to promote practices that might lead to big rent increases, even though a lot of the housing stock is in poor condition, and there are many sketchy things occurring (basements rented out, 6 people living in a 1 bedroom apartment, etc).

The mayor is nice enough to me and investors in general that I know, but I guess it depends on what your ambitions are. If you want to get a smaller property and fix it up, that's no problem, but if you want to build a highrise building or do something major, it's going to be a huge pain in the ***, and you'd likely need to know someone well-connected to make it happen.

Hey Achi: I live in Union City and own a few houses here. I would say that, in general, "uptown" Union City is seen as more desirable. The numbered streets run east/west and are numbered south to north (2nd St or Patterson Plank is the southernmost street/borders Jersey City, 49th is the northernmost border with West New York), John F Kennedy is the westernmost border with North Bergen, and Palisade or Park is the easternmost with Weehawken or Hoboken. 

Stuff in the 30s and 40s is seen as nicer than below, and it's where most of the highrise buildings in Union City are. 30th St is where the Lincoln Tunnel is, and where all the buses go to NYC, so that's pretty desirable due to its access to New York. The further east you go/closer to Weehawken or Hoboken is also generally nicer: so right along Park Avenue in the north is very nice (borders Weehawken) near the Pathmark supermarket, or along Palisade Avenue in the south. Some houses along Palisade and Park have views of NYC which is obviously very desirable.

I also really like the area around the Monastery (18th through 21st streets between Summit and West)--it's quiet and neighborhoody, or just south on 14th or 15th (also near an old church).

There are pockets throughout the city that are nicer than others, but the only "not as nice" areas are probably in the single digits along Bergenline or West St. Bergenline is the main commercial street throughout Union City and it sort of dies around 14th St, so stuff south of there is not as great mostly because you don't have access to restaurants and the commute to NYC is longer. However, you're super close to Hoboken (can walk to an elevator which takes you to Hoboken and the light rail), and you're bordering Jersey City Heights, which has changed a huge amount in a short time and has restaurants, bars, etc.

In my mind there aren't almost any areas I'd consider "bad" (the whole city is like 1 square mile), but it's very block-by-block, so you'll get a sense when you're walking around.

Seems not bad: taxes are super low, so I would double check that (never really used numbers from Zillow, but PropertyShark or county tax records will tell you what they are actually paying). Realize that, if they are low, they're not going to stay low forever. I think that's what's making this property so attractive at this point. I would expect about 1.75-2x the taxes from what you quoted for a ~$200k (presumably multi-family if you are getting that type of rent) in Hudson County.

I own a few multi-families in Hudson County, and I also usually budget more than what you are budgeting for ongoing repairs and capex. Unless you are planning to gut renovate or the like, properties in Hudson County are, by and large, poorly maintained. I've budgeted ~$2,500 for ongoing repairs for properties in the $200-$300k range and, so far (2 years in) that's about what I've spent (I guess some of the things that I've done blur the line between repairs and capex, but...). Hopefully this number will go down for me as I spend more on preventative maintenance.

You may also want to check if you have separate electrical/water/hot water/heating if this is a multi-family. If not, you'll have to pay for that (and in my experience, tenants in the area rarely do apples-to-apples comparisons when considering utilities, so I'm not confident you can get the equivalent more $/month in rent just because you provide utilities). Obviously you can switch everything separate but it may cost a fair amount of money.

Also would be curious to know where in Jersey City this is. In some of the less safe areas of JC (Greenville, etc.) you might anticipate more difficulty collecting rent or getting good tenants which can obviously hugely impact your numbers.

Hi @Suhail Shakir welcome! I live and invest in Union City (buy and hold properties) and own a couple of multi-families here. It's definitely a great area to invest although prices have been going up significantly in the past ~year or so, at least in my estimation.

If you're looking for a real estate agent I'm happy to refer who I use, if you PM me, however I know, in addition, that there are a number of BP members in the area that would also be fantastic (@Ashley Lesieur @Steven Velez) and are very investor friendly. I know Steve in particular is knowledgeable about flipping in the area.

Best of luck!

Welcome @Allen C.! I live and invest primarily in Union City (just north of Jersey City). Happy to grab coffee or the like at some point in the future, and best of luck!

Hey @Brian Whelan welcome! 

I think you may be hard pressed to find a duplex in the immediate JSQ area right now in that price range. Prices have jumped significantly in the past 2-3 years, both in the JSQ area and in Jersey City Heights. You may find some properties that are listed as being in Journal Square, but, if you actually look at them, they're quite far away. I guess it depends on what you consider Journal Square to be... either the neighborhood which is sort of broadly construed, or stuff around the actual "square" in Journal Square.

I live and invest in Union City (city just north of Jersey City) which definitely still has duplexes in your price range, although prices have been going up in the past year or so. You might also look deeper into Jersey City, like in the Bergen-Lafayette area (the further south in Jersey City, generally, the more dangerous and correspondingly more affordable, so definitely look around the neighborhood and do your research about what you're comfortable with).

Best of luck!

@Calvin Kwock I invest primarily in Union City and can recommend a great real estate agent I've continually used (she's great with pretty much all of Hudson County), a local bank I've used for financing, and a home inspector I like. If you're looking specifically in Union City I know some contractors/handymen that I've had great experiences with. Send me a private message.

Hey @Account Closed for sure let me know if you want to connect--I'm always up to grab coffee. I usually work from home here in Union City so, if you're local, send me a message here on BP and we can work something out. Looking forward to it!

Hey @Account Closed I live and invest in Union City and agree generally with the other posters here. The housing stock of Union City and surrounding areas is primarily 2 family homes. You're less likely to find 3-4 unit properties (and in Union City those properties are subject to rent control if not owner occupied, so you may have some additional complications), so I think 2 family properties are an easier way to get started here, in my opinion.

Ironbound is very expensive in Newark (as are some parts of the North Ward, part of which is a historic district), but there certainly are transitional areas around the borders of some of the neighborhoods/wards. I'd encourage you to drive around Newark and get a sense of the area, talk to locals, see who is hanging out on the streets, etc... The city is huge and is very different from neighborhood to neighborhood. I haven't bought there yet (I have an option to purchase some vacant land in the North Ward), but it's definitely an area I am interested in exploring further.