All Forum Posts by: Kevin Hernandez

There are good opportunities that appear every week and awesome opportunities that appear every month in your target area(s). The question is whether you have the auto alerts set up and will be aggressive to get the property under contract. As either a home buyer or an investor, using either cash or a conventional loan (with "as is language") will be more attractive to a seller. The person who wins the project is the person who usually offers the most / the best terms. That doesn't mean that you're getting a bad deal if you outbid everyone else. By default, you have to, unless you're buying cash as is or have some other special terms that matter more to the seller than price. 

The market is still pretty hot for investors to be buying. I've seen properties that were currently renting for about $6,000/month get sold for $900,000 with a 25% down investor loan. I prefer deals that are 1% or higher especially after any upgrades and rental turnovers, so any property I buy for $900k better be renting for at least $9,000 a month. (This is a crude, rule of thumb example - it's better to plug in everything like maintenance and taxes and insurance on your spreadsheet). Do they exist? Usually the in-place rents will not meet the 1% rule. You have to be creative. I bought a house in central jersey for 250k that's renting for over 5000 a month right now consistently for the past 2+ years. Could I get 6000 a month with standard zillow, 1 year leases? The answer is no way. 

Quote from @Kevin Hernandez:

Hi All - I'm looking to get into real estate this year in the NJ market, but have to continue living in NYC due to job, social, etc (at least for now).

I've considered investing in a multi-family vs. a SFR in a few towns that I am familiar with due to growing up in NJ. Any advice or thoughts on this? Should I still pursue in this type of market even though I likely won't be house hacking and will have to do 20% down, etc.

Thanks for your thoughts. 

Please clarify what you mean. There are a couple options depending on your level of income and desired lifestyle. The more flexible you are on having a posh pad, the more likely you can make a savvy investment. 

You can choose to buy a property in nyc or on transit lines like Brooklyn, queens, upper East/west side,hoboken, Jersey City etc. Where you can either rent rooms, or have private in law suite or multiple units like a brownstone. they are now offering as little as 5% down on a conventional loan for multifamily whereas it used to be 15-20%

like you said if you only want to buy an investment property, you will pay more interest and need to save up 20-25% plus closing costs and rehab money.