I'm currently looking at new constructions in NJ that comes equip with the 5 year Tax Abatement and a lot of them are setup with a family room & bathroom on the ground floor which and easily be converted into a studio apt for extra revenue.

So she wants to convert from her short term lease to a long term lease.

Take the $2.00 pay-cut for an estimated yearly earnings of at least $33,000 and eventually convert it to a rental property to eventually move back to California. 2nd choice would be to just stay here in San Jose and earn about $28-30k a year working part time hours at my great company and also try to get something started in Real Estate.

You will need to convert those leads yourself as clients and it will take follow up and relationship building.

I tend to stay away from converted houses that are in really poor condition generally as they often have so many code and major structural issues they don't really work out.

Hey Leslie, I am just finishing up converting my "house-hack" into a long term rental. 

I would set my rehab time for 6 months, and then the loan would convert into a traditional loan at the end of the 6 month time frame .Check your local community redevelopment programs to see if facade grants are available.

Also, do any of you know someone that has experience converting/adding units (such as converting the basement into a 3rd or 4th unit) in these areas?

You potentially can loose it just as fast if you don't have a good feel for when to sell or convert to something more conservative.i initially opened the account about 7 years ago because of the free ATM usage across the world and not because of the brokerage. 

I am starting on our first renovation project on a property we just purchased where we are converting an existing sun room into interior space and also just some general interior remodeling work.