Best part is NJ is not what its made out to be in terms of landlord friendly, the state gets portrayed as the entire state being bad when really most wacky laws are in the major cities and they apply to 5 units or more.  2-4 unit multi families fly below radar per say. 

Take $3,000 off the HELOC and apply it to the 1st mortgage. 

If not, how much are you all "throwing away" on rent when those funds could be applied to ownership?

Let us know how it goes.I provide my screening criteria on my website, and I encourage applicants to screen themselves before applying so they don't waste my time, their time, or their money.

However, he asked me to sign a one-year Exclusive Right to Represent agreement, as presented to him by his brokerage.His interpretation is that it applies only when he materially assists me, but I think the boilerplate brokerage language he was given reads much more broadly:"If during the term of this Agreement Buyer enters into a contract for the purchase of Property through the services or efforts of the Broker or Buyer’s Brokerage Firm, or by or through any other persons during the term of this Agreement" (emphasis mine).My concern is that, under my interpretation, if a fellow real estate investor wants to unload a property or if I get pointed to an opportunity by a former agent, colleague, or friend, this agreement could create an obstacle to moving forward with the deal.In the end, I didn’t sign.

This allows you to test all the systems and the people involved.  

We are both 28 years old with zero experience prior to getting involved, she works for the business now and I work Blue Collar in the trades. 

My involvement would go down drastically to where the only thing I'm doing would be funding the deals.  

I plan to apply for an FHA loan for my first investment if I were to find a deal, but if I can't something that works for buy and hold.

Decide how involved in real estate you want to be.