All Forum Posts by: Mike Zipf

East Orange is the cheapest place to buy on the midtown direct train, as well as having the 2nd closest stop to NYC. The problems as I see it most buildings are pre-war SFH (3+ rooms, too few bathrooms, and old house problems). The schools are pretty darn bad, statistics wise so investing in a 3+ bedroom seems like a bad idea. There are some MFH within 10 minute walks from the Brick Church stop, and are north of 280. I've driven through the area and found the area to be not too bad, not many people walking around in the middle of the day (working class). So my question is does anyone have experience with buying in the area of East Orange north of 280? Also has anyone had any luck converting a pre-war single family into a multi-family?

I'm looking to get in the market for cash flow, appreciation is a nice plus but I don't expect it in the area (short/mid term).

According to East Orange's land use map the area around Brick Church stop is zoned a "Redevelopment Area" and the area 5-10 min walk from the station is zoned "Medium Density".

@Darren Sager Sounds like a great idea, I always hear about landlords who are working double time as a project manager because they can't find good help. It also seems to instill a sense of worth to contract laborers working for a company rather then a person. I see the real benefit would be the savings in time and headache rather then just a savings on money. If it was all about the money then every land lord would collect the rents themselves, but then they would have a job and not an investment paying dividends. I work in an industry where the biggest selling point of the product I am working on is saving time (SaaS not real estate). The tech side of what you are working on interests me, which I have a few questions on.

Do you plan on using a project management tool with a ticket system (Asana, Trello, Basecamp, etc)?

Is each person in the network going to be able to post a repair ticket?

How will time be budgeted if there is a time conflict (Per company, per property etc)?

@Kenneth B.Must be something in the water that makes New Jersians entrepreneurial. :)

@Rob BrautigamI've been looking into that. My limited credit history may not get me a low rate on a loan, I may have to get a family member to put the loan in their name.

Those are some nice numbers! Question about the Hillside house, I know in some areas of Hillside the whole block of houses seem like they need a bit of TLC, was this the worst house on the block or where there others like it? Also did you get the property though the MLS?

Strangely enough I don't see my post showing up in the forums even after verifying my account.

I see it now, Sorry for the double post!

Hey Everyone,

I have been wanting to get into real estate for years now. Not having any money to do so I've been waiting patiently to get into the market. Now that I am saving a decent amount of money per month I'm setting a goal for myself to purchase my first multi-family (2-6 unit) by 2016. 

A bit of background, I went to college in Newark, NJ for Computer Science and currently working as a Software Engineer. After being in Newark for 4 1/2 years I can see the potential in real estate there, as well as some of the surrounding suburbs (Orange's, Belleville, Union Township, Hillside, etc). I plan on starting out with a multi-family that I can put in some sweat equity and get market rate tenants. My goal by the end of 2016 is to have 10+ units. So I will be working hard this year to get to my goals, researching areas and looking for deals.

Thanks for checking out my post.