All Forum Posts by: Jessica W.

I know everyone on bp rightly advocates being properly zoned and getting certificates of habitability for all units and rightly so.

I'm just curious as to how this 3 family foreclosure I'm looking at has 4 separate electric meters and is listed on the tax records as a 4 family. Is it possible for the previous owner to have put in the basement apartment and done all this without getting it re-zoned?

The 4th apartment definitely looks like it's not up to code because one of the entrance doors has very low clearance (like less than 6'5").

Thoughts?

@Tom Goans @LEONID ORLOV Care to elaborate on the rent being a tax deduction?

@Darren Sager In Maplewood, how's the area below Springfield Ave and bordered in the south by Rt 78? It's pretty close to Irvington and home prices seem to be reasonable there.

@Jon Holdman @Matt Devincenzo Thanks guys. I never thought about renting if I had the money to buy, but this may actually make sense.

@Darren Sager I know.. I live pretty close to Bergen County and was originally looking in towns like Montclair, Caldwell, and Verona. Now I'm thinking about Clifton and Bloomfield. I actually work very close to Maplewood and like the town.. but I kind of hate my job so I'm afraid if I move too close, I will be less motivated to leave :\

@Erik Pedersen We don't commute to the city so we didn't really look at Bayonne. I do like the idea of converting a 2 family into a 3 family though. If you don't mind me asking, how much was your house and how much did it cost you to finish the basement?

@Bill Sonzogni Love the Morristown area but houses there are like $250-350k + they need major renovation. We've looked there but dunno if we can handle that kind of reno.

My partner and I are 25yo, have up to 80k saved up for a down payment and make a combined $150k/year (conservatively, not counting my 2nd job); no kids. Currently we live with parents.

We're looking to buy our first property and we figured a multi-family would be a good investment. However, the only "deals" in the NJ area seem to be in Newark, Irvington, Paterson or other areas we'd rather not live.

Towns with great schools and a great neighborhood are have very few multi-families available and the few we've looked at are negative cashflow due to high purchase price and property taxes.

We've talked to our realtor about REOs and short sales but so far he hasn't found us anything.

We've explored cheaper towns bordering high crime areas and although we can find houses in the $200-300k range, taxes and lower rent prices make these properties barely positive. They're still in mildly sketchy areas to boot.

The best we've done so far is about $100 positive cashflow per month (if we were not living there) in a neighborhood we really like. However the house is at our max budget at $399k.

What should we do? We love Jersey, but living here can be such a money pit.