All Forum Posts by: Shi-Feng Lin

Hi @Shi-Feng Lin NJ is very city by city. Crime rate plays a part but really what you want to learn more about is the areas that are landlord friendly and the ones that are not. The way I see it no matter how good the numbers look they never pan out if tenants don't pay rent. I have been house hacking and small multi family investing for over a decade. I am yet to miss a single payment of rent becuase know the towns with more favorable laws tend to attract more favorable tenants. I identify these areas and find creative ways to increase value and set up creative rental situation to maximize ROI and not let wacky laws work against me.

1) You can research neighborhoods but your realtor should be fast tracking this process for you. Realtor should know the areas to avoid, one with wacky laws and low rent control. ie a place like Union City is a no fly zone in my opinion, numbers look good but laws will make for long term head ache.

2)Its funny crime rate and wacky laws tend to go hand in hand. I've notice over the year high crime tend to be in areas with lots of crazy landlord laws. There is more to it than just looking at crime just remarkable similarity between the two.

Are you planning to house hack? That makes a huge difference on approach and strategy.

@Shawn Mcenteer No, it's been an investment property. Didn't realized that different parts of Hudson county had different landlords laws. Given your investing experience in NJ, where would be a good place to start and where can I find out the laws that particular to each town?

0 Votes

Jersey City, New Jersey

Hello BP. Rookie investor here. Am looking for my first 2-4 fam investment property. I've decided to narrow down my search within the Hudson county in NJ. My real estate agent started sending me listing. There are listing that I like. The next thing I started looking up was the crime rate in that specific neighborhood and it didn't seem safe based on the crime rate. That was sort of a turn off for me. It got me wondering a couple things:

1. Should I research the neighborhood that I want to invest in first and then look at the houses within that neighborhood or should I analyze the houses first & then research the neighborhood?

2. Should I rely heavily on the crime rate that I found online or should I do a drive through and see it for myself so I can make a better decision on whether I want to invest in this neighborhood?

0 Votes

Jersey City, New Jersey

Hello BiggerPockets! I'm Shi-Feng and I'm looking to learn more about getting a home equity loan (non-owner occupied) to invest in multifamily Houses (between duplex to 4 plex) near NJ and NYC area. I currently live in a single family house and have pay off the house and am looking to use the equity in the house to buy the next investment property. I am new to this and would appreciate any insights from those who have already done this on how to go about doing so.

2 Votes

Jersey City, New Jersey

All Forum Posts by: Shi-Feng Lin

Shi-Feng Lin has started 2 posts and replied 3 times.

Post: Should I research the neighborhood first and then look at the houses or vice versa?

Post: Should I research the neighborhood first and then look at the houses or vice versa?

Post: New Member and Hello!