All Forum Posts by: Diana Tian

@Eric T. you could ask your agent to send you some comps for the sale (similar sold units ) and for the rent ( similar rental that has been rented in past 6 months) . Sometimes, the active rentals are not reflecting the real rent price. The rent could be too high so the rental have been in the market for a long time. I think a lot of renters in Harrison study or work in NJ so they don't need to commute to NY. But the rental buildings near the path train station are changing the area. 

The housing prices in Harrison have gone up a lot like other cities in Hudson county. It is hard to tell where the market will head to. a price of $700k ~ $750k sounds like you are purchasing one of the best houses in the area. From investment perfective,  newer houses often charge a premium on the price. 

@Mike A.The rental market is still quite strong. I haven't experienced any issues renting out places recently through. 

Did you move on with deal? I thought, for buy and hold investment, over 10% cash on cash return is considered good in hudson county. 

@Tommy Cheng I found that area is very easy to rent out.... I haven't had any difficulty renting out places there. but I always charge a lower than market rent. 

The more bedroom the better...it is easy to find renters with a big family.  3 bed/2bath is common in newer construction. It has great condition but it usually asks for more than 3bed/1bath. I don't think renters are willing to pay much more for one more bathroom.

@Roderston Eugene Welcome to BP. Depending on your budget, Hudson county is a good place for long term holding. 

@Tommy Cheng West New York is a great place to rent it out. I was surprised by how quickly it could be rented out (of course, the rent has to be reasonable). During the past few years, my vacancy was within half a month within a year. But I don't know about the short term rentals there. I think WNY doesn't allow short term rentals. 

@Betty Xin in my opinion, hudson county is still much cheaper than most areas in queens and brooklyn, even considering into the high property tax in NJ. I think it is still a good area for long term holding. 

For house hack, I like houses at an average condition (not the worst or the best), like houses built around 1970, rare but still exist. It may need some cosmetic work. Are you comfortable with minor upgrade or you are looking to turn-key? 

@Betty Xin in my opinion, hudson county is still much cheaper than most areas in queens and brooklyn, even considering into the high property tax in NJ. I think it is still a good area for long term holding. 

For house hack, I like houses at an average condition (not the worst or the best), like houses built around 1970, rare but still exist. It may need some cosmetic work. Are you comfortable with minor upgrade or you are looking to turn-key? 

@Betty Xin welcome to BP. Hudson County and Bergen County (areas along the hudson rivers ) are great places to explore. The tenant quality is good. It is easy to find a family with stable income. I work and invest in Hudson County. Multi family houses are quite old here. A lot of them were built in 1930s or before. There are newer options. Houses built after 2000 are great for first time home buyer, with low maintenance but relatively more expensive. When you start looking, you will see the differences. 

in terms of appreciation, I think Hudson county has great potential, but keep in mind most areas has appreciated a lot since 2012. Depending on the location, Jersey City downtown and Greenville have very different growth rate. Just to give you some idea, I bought a two family house in west new york in 2015, the price has gone up 30%~40% since then. 

In my opinion, Multi-family are more desirable. It is easy to convert a two family house into one but not the other way around. 

@Chris H. I don’t think Union city has an online system set up yet. Agreed with @Mark F. Best way is to visit them in person. 

Hi Adrien, welcome to biggerpocket! I don't have much experience with 203k; I only did it once. 

It was not a great experience. The contractor was very good with numbers (a detailed estimate would be required by the lender) but not good with the work. The house I was working on was not habitable so 203k loan helped us to get the deal. But the renovation took way longer than expected. In the process, we changed work order a few times. It took time for the lender to approve.  

I think as a first time home buyer, you could focus on houses that are in livable condition so you could have income right away, and then do some work while living there.