The best towns to own rentals in Somerset County, NJ
Tverdov Housing is a business that has grown from scratch to a business that now manages over $40,000,000 worth of residential rentals. Given our growth, we have become familiar with which areas in New Jersey are investor-friendly and which areas are not. We often get emails, DMs, or phone calls asking, “where are the best places to buy a house in Somerset County?” and “what are the best neighborhoods in New Jersey?” Well, now you can use this as a guide and when you are ready to buy, sell or hire a property manager for your residential rental property, you can reach out to us to help you make the transition smooth!
Somerset County has a few towns that are hidden gems for real estate investors. Why are they hidden gems? Well, two big reasons
Taxes are lower in Somerset County
Less people look in Somerset County to buy rentals
That's really it but those are the only reasons you need, trust me. Read on to see some of the towns we recommend for owning investment property!
NORTH PLAINFIELD
I feel like a lot of people don't even know North Plainfield exists. North Plainfield has several neighborhoods filled with multi family homes. Rt 22 (a major highway) runs right down the middle of it. It also has a small, walkable downtown. It's a very blue collar town filled with working class families. We are pretty active in this town and we are a big fan. The town inspectors are also friendly (as long as you are compliant), which always helps when you are the owner of rental properties.
BOUND BROOK
Okay so you need to be careful of some flood areas but dare I say this town is up and coming? It has an old manufacturing hub feel to it in some spots but there has been some redevelopment going on and it has a few neighborhoods with really well kept multifamily properties. More people know about this town and the bidding wars can get intense for rental properties so bring your highest and best offers if you want to get into this town. Don't let that stop you from buying here though. It is another town with a strong rental base and it's very close to 287, a major interstate highway that allows people to commute all over the state.
SOUTH BOUND BROOK
South Bound Brook is very similar to Bound Brook in a lot of ways but it's further behind from a redevelopment and renovation point of view. This town has several homes that are ripe for renovations and it has a small section near the river of multifamily homes. The town has a quiet vibe to it but it attracts a similar working class tenant like Bound Brook does.
FRANKLIN
Franklin is huge and you will feel like you are in several different towns depending on what part you drive though. The area closest to New Brunswick is the biggest rental area in town. Unfortunately, it's also probably the one that needs the most TLC. That section of Franklin is also known as "Somerset". Somerset has several neighborhoods with lower income families but Hamilton St has seen a major uptick in development in the last 5 years. Somerset is mostly filled with single family homes with a peppering of multi-family properties but there are plenty of opportunities to own buy and hold rentals in this area. This is another town in Somerset County that we manage property in, although Somerset is a bit stricter than a lot of towns we deal with.
MANVILLE
Manville is a big flood area so you will need to do your work with FEMA maps to make sure you're not in a bad flood area. It's a very small town but we have seen our share of rentals in this town. I wouldn't ignore the town because of flooding but you will just need to be careful and pay attention to topography.
There are other areas of Somerset County where you can find rentals and make them work as a cash flowing investment but these are the biggest towns we have seen in Somerset County that have the most active rentals. If you are ready to start the process to buy a rental in this area, or maybe you need help with the property management of it? Contact us to start a conversation with how we can help you!