All Forum Posts by: Ray Reed

@Suzie Remilien very inspiring.  I have been wanting for years to venture out of my high priced area.  This is an added push. 

@Account Closed i am not familiar with Gloucester County.  It is a lot closer to Philly than it is to me.   With that said, have you checked to see if there are many two bedrooms on the market and how close they are in proximity to your  property?  I have tried to use rentometer but my investment area is densely populated and half a mile can make a big difference.  Kind of like Philly.  That's why i like to advertise the apartment with the actual address to see what the interest could potentially be.  Did the seller state why his biggest unit is vacant?  Also you want to find out the payment history of the current tenants.  Sect 8 to some people sounds good because the money is coming from the municipality but if the tenant is responsible for a large portion  and they are always late, that can be a pain.  

@Account Closed out of curiosity, how did you end up putting an offer on the house you are not familiar with the area?  Are you sure the vacant two bedroom can rent for $850?  you should put a rental add on craigslist and see what kind of interest you get for that address.

@Kalmen Goldberger  Weequahic ave is generally decent but you should definitely do a couple of drive thrus when the weather is decent.  In newark it only takes one tenant on the block to mess up the neighborhood.  

close to hillside, bergen st and weequahic park is ok.  going up towards irvington is not as good.  i am getting $1800 for a 4 bedroom 3 bath, $1300 for a 3 bedroom 2 bath. the latter is below market. 

@drew slew you can have a rent controlled property that is getting market rent. the rent control law in newark prevents rents from being jacked up at the end of the lease term.  for instance you could not increase a tenant's rent from $1000 to $1200. 

As far as the section 8, it can be good and bad. for starters, most of the time the tenant has to pay a portion. if the rent is $1000 and the tenant has to pay you $700 out of that $1000,  you may not find that a good thing if the tenant is constantly late and you have to wait for a bulk of your rent.  If you have to go to eviction court, because you did not receive the tenant's portion,  you cannot apply late fees to sect 8 tenants in eviction court. 

What about getting into a roommate situation while you are renting and searching for the right multi?  That should help you save more than if you were buying a cheap condo and it gives you more flexibility.  If you were to get that condo and then look for a multifamily, the financing on the multi family will not be as favorable as if the multi was your first property. your debt to income ratio would not be as good and you would be required to put a heftier down payment on the multifamily.  

You should contact DCA to make sure this house is not registered for a Certificate of Inspection (formerly 'green card').  You don't want to be blindsided when you own the property.  I had one property that was a three family and for whatever reason, the state did not have it registered when i bought it. Maybe because it was at one time a boarded up house. About 8 years later they started inspecting it. 

@David Weintraub I used to do that but i do not go collecting rent anymore.  I have a PO box set up and an account at a bank open 7 days a week.  The tenants have to either mail a cashier's check or money order to my PO box, deposit cash in the account or do a transfer if they use the same bank.  If you dont have the money by a certain date, file for eviction.  you don't want to be chasing after money.  

@Nicholas Sheridan, Jr.  when you say near NJ transit, do you mean the train stations?  The buses are NJ transit also.  Those two towns have a pretty good transportation systems.  If you are going to focus on low income flips, concentrate more on the more desirable sections instead of the war zones.  Also think about how you will be securing the house so that things don't walk away.