All Forum Posts by: Diana Tian

@Rushda Hakim it really depends on your investment goal and budget. in general, north NJ is a great area to invest. cities in Hudson and bergen county are close to the city generating good rental income. I am not too familiar with bergen county. for Hudson county, you could check out union city, west New York, and north bergen. 

@James Smith you have a good budget. you could consider 2 - 3 family houses in Journal Square, or you may consider heights, union  city, west new york, or weehawken. they are very close to Manhattan, 20 ~ 30 mins away from port authority on bus. 

@Rushda Hakim  other cities in Hudson county are good options as well. you could consider union city, and west new york. they are roughly 30 mins away from Jersey city, and 25 mins to Manhattan on bus. 

@Justin McElroy welcome! west New York is a great place to start. it is very close to the city and there are a lot of great deals in that market. you could start looking for an agent with local knowledge from whom you could get some general ideas. 

@Vincent Villani I haven't done anything in Bayonne. for the houses I purchase and manage, I always take the commute myself a couples and then decide.  I took the bus from pen station to union city (close to Lincoln tunnel), I was amazed by how fast and frequent the bus was. The bus took off very 5 mins - 10 mins; it was 15min - 20mins on the bus, adding walking time, 50 mins door to door. 

@Tyler Wolf appreciation is hard to predict. I think North Jersey in general should do well in long term. I try to pick up houses which gives me good cash flow and less worries so that I will have the capacity to be able to keep it for long. I haven't tried to get to Greenville because It may not be easy to manage and it doesn't generate enough return to put that much efforts. 

@Vlad S. thanks for sharing. I have been debating if I should do it myself or hire a lawyer. 

I like them all but a little less interests in north bergen. I think union city is catching up with West New York/ Guttenberg. but West New York/ Guttenberg are very solid . 

Union City - best location and prices; but the building department is very hard to work with. it is hard to get anything done. it has the highest tax...even though they all have very high taxes;

North Bergen - it is furthest away from the city. the area west to union city/jersey city is less expensive but lower quality of houses. The area north to Guttenberg is really nice but priced higher as well compared to other three cities. it has a lot of 1 - 2 families houses. it is great for a large families. 

West New York/ Guttenberg - they are small - maybe too small for a lot of investors to explore. the location is good and also next to Hudson River. the building department is more friendly. I haven't seen a big growth as in union city. 

I am happy to get some thoughts from locals. @Tania Patch, I can't agree with you more on the union city building department. that scares a lot of investors away from union city. @Vlad S. unit city border is a great area for investment. it could be more affordable and also get the benefits of the school zone. Woodrow Wilson Elementary School is ranked really high, score 10, and top 10 in New Jersey . the school district covers Weehawken and part of union city. 

Thank you for sharing your perspective! it is interesting to see the price differences of houses on palisade ave or park ave. They are on quite similar but one side is union city, the other side is weehauken.