All Forum Posts by: Seher Taskent

Hi everyone! 

I'd heavily appreciate any input anyone has to offer on a dilemma my husband and I are facing. We currently live in Hudson County, NJ and are renting. We REALLY want to invest in a property right now because we have a good amount of savings that are just sitting there and doing nothing for us. As most people know, Hudson county is increasing in value due to its proximity to NYC but it's mainly condo's for sale, and might I add, not even great ones. They're decent but the best condo's cost about $400k+. Additionally, most lenders are requiring 15% down because it will not be owner occupied and is considered an investment property. 

Even though the down-payment is doable, I can't justify losing so much liquidity for something that won't NEARLY appreciate the way a SF or MF home will. I know it'll be equity for us but I'd rather save the cash on hand for our own personal home when we move out. Also, the HOA fees are almost all $400 and more, minimum $350. House-hacking is an option, but MF homes in Hudson county are VERY high in price and the ones that aren't are practically burned down.

SO here's my question! 

Is a condo investment worth it in a city even though the condo will not appreciate much/HOA's can kill cash flow but the amount of possible tenants/tenants applying will be high, or is it worth it to invest in the more suburban parts of NJ and buy a SF house to rent out instead just because of the appreciation and possible cash-out refinance? (MF is currently out of the question because of asking prices). Our goal is to hold this investment. A flip would be nice but the goal is to rehab it and possible cash-out refinance one day to repeat. Even if that didn't happen, it's a long-term investment. The biggest concern is finding a tenant.

Truthfully, we prefer a SF home in the suburbs but our fear is pretty obvious - we're worried we won't find a tenant willing to pay what our mortgage might be, especially because we're not in the city. I've heard from many people that you'd be surprised what some will pay for more space/a backyard and privacy, but we just can't get over the fear of not finding a tenant. And let me also mention, yes we know NJ taxes are high. But we've lived in NY our whole lives and now NJ, we've made peace with our situation and don't plan on leaving the area so please don't make us feel bad about that haha :) I know there are many other factors to consider, and it's not as black and white as I'm portraying it to be, but this is our biggest concern. 

CITY CONDO OR SUBURB SINGLE FAMILY?!? 

Thanks in advance everyone!!! Grateful for this community!

Hi everyone, 

First, if you take the time to read this, GOD BLESS because this is definitely personal. ANY advice or feedback or support is going to be EXTREMELY appreciated!

My husband and I are newlyweds and live in Queens, NY. We rent an apartment and hope to buy a home to live in sometime in the next 2 years (holding off for career/location situation), probably in NJ. I, way more than my husband, am HUNGRY to start real estate investing. I'm reading forums on BP daily, I'm constantly doing research on markets throughout the country to learn more about why a market is successful or not, I'm doing analysis deals daily to practice and understand what's a good deal and what's not, I basically live on MLS, Realtor, and Zillow. I scroll through homes and properties as if I was shopping for clothes just to get used to understanding what I'm looking at and to continuously get better at it.

AND YET, I cannot pull the trigger on anything. I have yet to even decide WHERE we would like to invest, because NY clearly isn't affordable and NJ has similar rent control laws to NY which we don't want to get started with. We're only 26 years old and our family/friends call us crazy for wanting to buy rental investments in other states. All we hear is how much of a failure it's going to be and of course, you're supposed to tune that out. However, we're fairly young and don't even own property that we live in yet. It's definitely intimidating to buy property elsewhere when all you own is 2 cars. BUT, I'm very finance savvy. I work in finance for an ivy league university and it's honestly second nature. I just have very good financial judgement. The real estate industry and how it works isn't too familiar because no matter how much research I do, I've still never gone through the motions. The numbers can make sense, and I still have this thing holding me back. I don't think I should mention how much money we have saved up but I can guarantee, it's unheard of for people our age. We have no debt, no school loans, both employed of course with a pretty good combined income. I just know how to budget money well and make it work for us, and we still definitely enjoy it and splurge at the same time. What you make is important, but how you spend can define a lot too. 

I just hate seeing our savings and how it's just sitting there.. I want it to work for us and I want to invest it. But my fear also comes from the fact that I don't want to throw TOO MUCH of it into an investment either. We're willing to give up AT MOST 20k for a down payment. Personally, I just want a small, tiny start, just to get on the playing field. I'd love to find a fixer upper for 50k (I know that's low but I've seen many people here saying they found one and did it), put 10k for the down payment and closing costs, and then rehab it for another 20k-25k. BRRRR is my go-to method that I'd love to try but again, a deal is a deal for our first one and that's our goal right now, just to start. This is going to sound crazy but I don't even care if our first deal makes us break even every month. I just want to get this first deal out of the way so that my fears and doubts are gone. I've read how some first deals even had people lose A LOT of money, but they didn't stop and tried with another property. How admirable? You either succeed or you learn, but damn I can't take my own advice.

 I don't know if it's too early for us or if my fear is just taking over. I basically do all of the research and learning and my husband is just extremely supportive of whatever I think is a good move. But I clearly am extremely intimidated, and EVEN if I wasn't, I haven't found a location I'm content with yet. 

Is investing out of state hard? How do we even get started? What was holding you back before your first deal, if there was anything holding you back? What were your biggest challenges? Is it to early for us? Did you having trouble finding tenants? How did your first deal go? What's you idea of a worst case scenario? How do you know a location is going to be cash flow positive? I'd love to hear your responses!

ANY information, feedback, and personal stories are GREATLY appreciated. Everyone stay safe and thank you for taking the time to read this!

@Aaron Barber thank you so much!

@Aaron Barber I guess it’s much more simple than I’m making it out to be. Well, not necessarily simple because there’s obviously a lot of analysis and math that needs to be done before a decision is made, but it seems like it is just as simple as finding a great deal and then working with those given numbers to see what the outcome will look like. My OCD and strive for perfection takes over sometimes and I know I will become super nervous about the first couple of investments because I wont know where to look or what to look for. Hoping the confidence will come over time. Thank you!!

@John Teachout Yeah I understand. It seems like everyone is in agreement that it’s just based on the deal and can only be determined when the deal is presented. Thank you!!

@Sean Toomey thank you! Yeah we are definitely open to partnering with others when we first start out just to get a feel for things. I guess I’m just trying to figure out how to feel the most confident in a decision. Thanks again!

@Aaron K. Thank you! I understand that it’s not as easy as “find one what cash flows” but I was just basically interested in how people start looking for a deal I guess. I just think a lot about finding a GREAT deal, but not being able to find tenants because no one wants to live in the area/city or not being able to charge a decent rent. But I guess it’s all based on analysis when the deal comes around, thank you!

Hi everyone. Newbie to this forum! I became insanely interested in real estate a few months ago. I've been listening to the BiggerPockets podcast, videos, and reading as many forums as I can. I'm in the middle of the BRRRR book by David Greene as well. I'm hoping to start investing in the near future but I LOVE educating myself a little obsessively before any big decision.

Although there’s A LOT of general questions I have, my main one currently is how do you decide on a good neighborhood or a location that will definitely have a positive cash flow? What is it that you look for? How do you know if a neighborhood/city is on the verge of improving/upscaling?

Investing money doesn’t scare me nearly as much as being worried about not being able to find tenants or charge a monthly rental that will still make me something after expenses.

I live in Brooklyn, NY currently. My fiancé and I are interested in probably investing somewhere upstate. The five boroughs are just too expensive and we want our first place to be close enough where we can drive there every weekend if needed, so any other part of New York ideally. Any suggestions on New York areas or just tips on HOW to pick a neighborhood/city/state?

Thanks!