All Forum Posts by: Matthew Posteraro

Quote from @David Uriarte:

There are a lot of houses in NJ that aren't technically "house hacks".  They are basically single families that have separate entrances or single entrances and are walled off call mother-daughter homes in NJ.  They aren't technically separate residences but I've seen many rent out one section.  This usually gets past local ordinances.  It is risky to rent that area out depending on the town.

 Thanks for the idea David, I did reach out to the local zoning board, and for the few properties that I saw with this opportunity I would have to wall off a current doorway and install some kind of kitchen/kitchenette which they would not allow. Especially since this is my first property, I am making sure to be transparent with the zoning board and make sure there will be no long term issues with zoning. 

Why Phillipsburg, NJ?  The place is an old industrial/rail town.  Little growth.  The town could get hit really hard in an economic downturn. You are better off with Philly or a suburb of Philly.

Great Question, I work in Easton as a nurse and my wife is also a nurse. NJ provides what is called a compact licensing agree between over 25 different states currently. This makes it much easier for her as a traveler to work in different states for contracts. PA does not have this currently and therefore you are forced to go through the entire license process for any state that you want to work in which can take months and hundreds of dollars each time. 

Quote from @Clayton Silva:

 Agreed, make a move now, build equity and pay down the mortgage and then leverage it later to buy one in the area you desire.

 We will probably end up doing this. Our timeframe to buy is starting in July for us, and there are a few multifamily properties that were grandfathered in from decades ago. If we get lucky to see one go on the market we will strongly look in to it, but won't limit our search to that area. 

Quote from @Clayton Silva:

While some municipalities may change their stance over time, I would start elsewhere and keep a close eye on the market to see if things get easier in your favor.  If the market doesn't make sense, better to just move on rather than try to change the market.

After speaking with a gentleman working for the town in the zoning department it seems like that could be an outside possibility that they do change those laws, but that could be a long way down the road or never. This option seems very risky and not the best way to start off our REI careers.

The reason we prefer Phillipsburg or Easton is due to NJ being a compact state for nurses and it allows us to travel much more efficiently to other states as nurses. However, PA is not a compact state and thus makes it much harder to travel to other states as a nurse. 

Quote from @Ralph Soles:

My suggestion is to do your due diligence or homework and save money. Zoning laws can be tricky; maybe even ask a professional attorney for help.

Thank you for the advice. It seems that I have simply hit a wall when it comes to Phillipsburg and the options it allows for REI. I will keep the attorney option in my back pocket for sure though thank you.

Hello! I am a new investor and have been saving up for a down payment on my first investment property for me and my wife. We have narrowed it down to the Phillipsburg, NJ and Easton, PA area. We are planning to buy and house hack in our first house, then rinse and repeat this process for the next 5-10 years. While Phillipsburg is our primary desired location, we have run into the issue of the town not allowing new multi-family houses to be built as well as not allowing ADUs to be built.

The numbers for us do not work in this market if the property is not at least a duplex and/or able to easily be converted into an ADU (which we have seen on two occasions while touring houses) to give us the ability to create a 1bedroom 1bath or studio apartment. What would be the advice for this situation? Would it be wise to not waste our time even looking in that market anymore? Are there other options, or possibly wording things differently to the zoning board in the town differently to give myself a better chance of being approved for permits regarding an ADU?

As always, any helpful tips or guidance is very appreciated. Thank you!!

Thank you for the insight. David you mentioned the use of 1031 exchanges recently in the local market. Do you see these as a way to scale up in size of investments (and to consolidate several properties into one perhaps) and to make the income generated from them as a more passive income stream. Instead of having multiple SFH or duplexes that would potentially require a more hands on approach?

Me and my wife are aiming to start our real estate investing journey with our first house around June/July in the Lehigh Valley area. We are planning to live in one unit and rent the other half out of a duplex, then rinse and repeat this process as many times as possible over the next 5-10 years. We are both nurse and plan to travel for a good portion of this time, so 'living' in the small 1br or studio apartment for residence purposes will not be a major issue for us since we will rarely be there.

After this 10 year period we plan to stop buying new properties and aim toward paying off current mortgages to help increase our cash flow in retirement. I am looking for any recommendations on how to properly scale this idea over the first few years conservatively and not wanting to over use leverage and debt by starting small in duplex and being open to triple/quadplex in the future if the right opportunity presents itself. Any helpful advice or pointing toward any resources would be greatly appreciated.

Gino, Thank you for the insight. Me and my wife are aiming to be debt free by the end of 2024, then begin saving aggressively for a house while maxing out our 403Bs. We see real estate investing as a great way to diversify our portfolio and do want to remain on the more conservative side, especially for our first property. 

We fee like a conservative approach will let us go through the growing pains of better understanding real estate investing without the worry of being over leveraged to add to the stress while we are both still employed full time in our careers and do not plan on quitting our jobs to go fully into real estate. 

I am in the phase of practicing deal analysis on possible investment properties in the area I am looking to invest in. The property would be a multi family that me and my wife would live in one unit and rent out the rest. Where I am looking for guidance is we plan on using a larger down payment of at least 50% to be on the conservative side of leverage. Using this to measure cash flow and a few other metrics seems to make most properties I run numbers for very good opportunities. I am afraid we will fall for a property with a false sense of a good deal.

Are there any suggestions to help me run an analysis that would better account for the larger down payment and allow me to better analyze potential properties in the future. Thanks in advance for the advice!