I am Jon and moved to the Jersey City/Hoboken area two years ago. actively looking for investment opportunity now.

This would not necessarily be the case, or the spread could go the other way, though such motive could present one reason for conversion.I am not even sure if rent control gets eliminated through a possible condo conversion in most towns in Hudson County - West New York, for  base condominium rent > $1000, is one exception, it seems valuable to determine the others.

there's no reason to partner that early in your career and give up equity - equity is the most valuable part of investing.

Calling the appraiser to see what you can do to push it up a "C-Level" would be smart before doing any reno also, might only need a few things to make it far more valuable in the eyes of the bank.I've heard of a tactic for figuring out demand, which is to put up a dummy or coming soon listing on facebook marketplace and see the amount of activity you get on it. 

Good afternoon, I've recently been curious about opportunities in the area.

Greg - thanks for the valuable advice, and yes , agreed I have a lot to learn.

What makes it slow in this case is that you don't really start seeing real cash flow until after year five but it's more effective than rentals in that there is little to no maintenance.Sure you can live in a home while fixing it up with the intention of selling it for a nice profit later but I think many people are already doing that and the buyers of slow flips now also have that opportunity without having to qualify with a bank.

I assume it was for a job opportunity.

It would be great to compare notes - how do you feel about expanding your search radius or even considering new-build opportunities further inland?

Unless someone here knows otherwise.Having said that, personally I'm not sure how valuable anonymity is compared to the cost of the structure ... as many have said here on BP.