I’m about to relocate to Ocean County, NJ, specifically around the Howell/Brick area, due to my fiancé’s one-year medical residency.I’m interested in investing in a single-family home or duplex that I could live in for about one to three years, ideally within a 15-mile radius of Jersey Shore and Newark Beth Israel hospitals.

House hacking is the most powerful way to get started in real estate investing, and it sets you up for success because you learn so many things: dealing with contractors, how to screen tenants, lease negotiation, but most importantly, your goal should be to reduce or eliminate your housing cost, and there are a lot of ways to do with house hacking depending on your flexibility with strategy: rent by room, Section 8, mid-term rental, STR, etc, and you can combine multiple strategies too. 

Some are even getting creative with their deals, using strategies like seller financing or joint ventures to reduce their dependence on traditional loans.It’s definitely a challenging environment, but with the right strategy, there are still plenty of opportunities out there.

It also has 2 hospitals, one of which is adding a medical school.

Listed for $575, reduced to $525 and just reduced it to $499.  

By the looks of this property, it looked like these needles were being used for medical purposes.

Your yard requirements may very well start inside the easements reducing the buildable area as compared to a lot of the same size without those easements.

By setting clear screening criteria and using neutral language when communicating with applicants, you reduce the risk of legal issues and maintain professionalism.

You'd just need to check with the lenders what they allow up to.Having experience (completed rehabs in the last 3-years tends to be what most lenders look to qualify as experience) will help you reduced your down payment all the way down to 0% in some cases for extremely experienced investors.

Maybe california could still be an option in some way and you can reduce the risk of evictions/damage by investing in homes in small towns there that allow strs.