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Buy the Asset, Not Rent: Affordability Mindset, First-Time Buyers, and House-Hack Options with Scott Forgue

By November 19, 2025Real Estate Pros Show

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Show Summary

In this conversation, Scott Forgue and Dylan Silver discuss their experiences in real estate, including networking with notable figures like Robert Shemin and Vanilla Ice. They explore strategies for financial success in the real estate market, addressing common concerns about making money without significant risk.

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    Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

    Scott Forgue (00:00)
    Basically I was working at W2 in Manhattan, because I’m here in Central Jersey. So was in Manhattan in a financial company and it was a holiday weekend. And I was there, I had to stay there until 8 o’clock at night to cover the west coast. Everybody else was gone in the building but me and I looked out the window and I said, you know, what is life about? You know, and I’m like, every holiday I seem to have to work.

    the extended hours and everybody else goes home. They get to spend more time with their kids because I’m on a call. I’m like, you know, what are we here for? And then I thought about it. I said, you know, a couple of weeks of your vacation and weekends. I said, no, there’s more to life than that. So what can I do to get out of this job? And that’s where I had to sit down and think about it. And I said, well, I don’t want to get a second job. You know, that makes no sense. So I said, what are my skills and what would allow me to do something to provide income to replace my job? And I said, real estate.

    Dylan Silver (02:25)
    Hey folks, welcome back to the show. Today’s guest, Scott Forgue, is a real estate entrepreneur offering great deals to help others make their money work for them rather than them working for their money. He’s educating others not just in real estate investing, but in financial growth to create generational wealth while recapturing their capital today. Scott, welcome to the show.

    Scott Forgue (02:48)
    Thanks Dylan, thanks for having me.

    Dylan Silver (02:51)
    Absolutely. I always like to start at the top of the show, Scott, by asking guests how they got started in real estate.

    Scott Forgue (02:59)
    Alright, I’ll keep it short.

    Basically I was working at W2 in Manhattan, because I’m here in Central Jersey. So was in Manhattan in a financial company and it was a holiday weekend. And I was there, I had to stay there until 8 o’clock at night to cover the west coast. Everybody else was gone in the building but me and I looked out the window and I said, you know, what is life about? You know, and I’m like, every holiday I seem to have to work.

    the extended hours and everybody else goes home. They get to spend more time with their kids because I’m on a call. I’m like, you know, what are we here for? And then I thought about it. I said, you know, a couple of weeks of your vacation and weekends. I said, no, there’s more to life than that. So what can I do to get out of this job? And that’s where I had to sit down and think about it. And I said, well, I don’t want to get a second job. You know, that makes no sense. So I said, what are my skills and what would allow me to do something to provide income to replace my job? And I said, real estate.

    I know how to do renovation work. So that’s what it was. I came home, I talked to my wife and then we just decided, I’m not sure how long after that we found a deal and we just jumped in and started ⁓ flipping it basically. You know, got a couple of friends to work with us and got it done in a few months. And then we put it back on the market and ⁓ we employed our friends because they were all out of jobs at the time. By the time we got done.

    with the project, they all got jobs. So that’s when we thought about it and said, hmm, we got to make this a business because our friends and family won’t have to worry about where they’re going to get work so long as we have properties to flip. That’s kind of basically where it started.

    Dylan Silver (04:32)
    Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

    When I, when I, ⁓ am talking to folks in New Jersey, I love doing it, because I’m from originally northern New Jersey, Essex County, the Caldwells. and I got licensed and I have had lived in Texas for the last five years before moving abroad where I’m at right now in the Dominican Republic.

    Scott Forgue (04:43)
    Okay.

    Dylan Silver (04:52)
    you know, Jersey, Northern New Jersey, really anywhere in New Jersey, it’s a different ballgame because the acquisition price of these homes in most cases is going to be significantly higher than in other markets of the country. For instance, Texas or a lot of areas

    in the southern United States. Getting into this space, did you have anybody who had ⁓ been a flipper or was active to walk you through, you know, underwriting these deals?

    Scott Forgue (06:06)
    Thank

    Dylan Silver (06:08)
    estimating rehabs and repairs and so forth.

    Scott Forgue (06:12)
    No, we just jumped in like I said, I looked at it, you know, we before we got the first deal, we looked at over 100 houses, we made about 75 to 80 offers. At the time, the economy was in a toilet. It was like 2009. So we were like,

    you how do we get funding? So I had a heat lock on my house at the time. And I said, well, we can use that for the renovation and a down payment on a property and we’ll get a mortgage. Not thinking or knowing anything. That’s kind of what we did. You know, fortunately we were able to get a mortgage, even though times were tough. And that’s how we did it. You know, we used the heat lock for down payment and the renovation budget. After we did it, the bank took our heat lock away. ⁓ And we were like, okay, now how do we do this going forward? ⁓

    Dylan Silver (06:57)
    Right.

    Scott Forgue (06:58)
    That’s when we bought a couple books and then we bought a small course and it was like

    One of the things we learned in it was go to REA groups and we were like, where’s REA groups? There was only a few in the area at the time. So we joined those. And that’s where we kind of found some mentors that helped guide us into what we needed to do. Being that we had already flipped the house before we got there. It was a little bit different. And the fact that we did the work was even more different, you know, because most flippers don’t do the work. They hire contractors and pay them and rely on them to do the job. ⁓

    Dylan Silver (07:27)
    Right.

    Scott Forgue (07:30)
    to this day we still kind of get our hands involved when necessary. You we rely on contractors, but if there’s a slow down or anything like that or a problem, we just jump in, get it done to keep the project moving forward. That’s what makes us different than most rehabbers in the area.

    Dylan Silver (07:46)
    When you were looking at deals, there, especially in those days, was there a specific type of deal that you ⁓ were preferential to, such as, you know, pre-foreclosure ⁓ or, you know, ⁓ distressed sellers of some variety, or was it across the board you were looking at on-market deals as well?

    Scott Forgue (08:08)
    So basically it was kind of a bank owned properties, REOs. ⁓ We didn’t know anything about short sales. They were just starting up at the time. ⁓ We didn’t know anything. We didn’t know how to really go out there and search for all market properties. We were just like, look at a property that makes sense as bank owned because the market was being flooded by all the foreclosures. ⁓ So we just looked at it and said, well, what would make sense to us? You know, if we bought a house that needs work.

    ⁓ Because we’re doing the work, it’s just what’s across the materials.

    You know, that’s basically it. weren’t looking for a complete cut. So we looked at something that was, you know, kitchen, maybe bath, flooring, paint, carpets type stuff. And then of course there were certain other things that would come along with it that we’d have to hire somebody to do or get help doing. But, um, no, we didn’t, we didn’t have any tools or anything like that. We just did it. It was, you know, it was just, we were able to, you know, that was, we were just able to get in and get dirty and do the job. Um, and that’s what we did. So we just went in hands on full force and did it.

    Dylan Silver (09:05)
    with it.

    Scott Forgue (09:12)
    We finished it in like three months, four months, and put it back on the market.

    Dylan Silver (09:17)
    When you were in that point in time, 2008, 2009, 2010, I imagine that there was sparse buyers. Correct me if I’m wrong, but even for bank owned properties, which banks will typically want more than say a distressed seller, the banks were probably thinking, we don’t want to hold onto this. We’re not getting an abundance of offers. So really it was a great time to be in single family investing,

    Scott Forgue (09:45)
    Yeah, we didn’t know about rentals at the time. We were just like, listen, we’re just going to flip this, make money. We’ll fix the house up and give somebody a quality home. And that’s what we did. ⁓ The property, we actually sold it to a single mom that had

    her own son and she was the foster mom for two other children. So she was getting state aid for that. So that helped her get the income.

    It took a little bit of time to close on a deal because she decided to adopt the two kids, which I thought was great, but timing was bad. ⁓ And the affordability for was gonna be hard because we said, you’re no longer gonna have that state income to help pay your bills. ⁓ She got the deal closed, it took a little bit longer than it should have. But then I think within a year after that she went up re-losing the house because she didn’t have the income. She couldn’t provide enough to cover the mortgage, which was sad, but. ⁓

    Dylan Silver (11:07)
    Mm.

    Mm-hmm.

    Scott Forgue (11:09)
    I get what

    she was trying to do and accomplish with the kids, but she could have just provided them a quality home without adopting them.

    Dylan Silver (11:16)
    Mm-hmm. Yeah, that’s

    a tough situation. But ⁓ I was actually talking to a number of ⁓ podcast guests this week in the community housing space. And there’s a lot of ways where I think ⁓ more is being done now in the affordable housing space, community housing, alternative housing, ADUs. ⁓

    How has your business pivoted over the years? You mentioned in those early years you were on site, you were doing the rehabs yourself, now you hired that out in most cases. What have been the growth points and the major pivots over the years?

    Scott Forgue (11:53)
    ⁓ Well, it’s been finding a team. That’s one thing. Getting a team of contractors. And another thing that we do is we flip the veterans here now. So it makes it a little bit easier for us when we’re doing the job because we can bring them in ahead of time before we’re completed with the renovation for them to look at the property and decide if they want it. And a lot of times that’s what happens. Sometimes it’s at the end. ⁓ So that’s kind of our niche right now. We just

    Sell the veterans and we have a partner in our real estate group because we run a real estate community here and our partner is 17 year veteran and he worked with other veterans to get them housing. So we worked with him to find buyers and provide them with quality homes. So the last three we did were definitely the veterans. Before that we had some bigger ones that veterans didn’t qualify for. So now we kind of stay in a zone of space where we know veterans can qualify for and provide them homes. So that’s what we gear towards now.

    Dylan Silver (12:49)
    That’s terrific.

    When we talk about affordable housing, ⁓ there is a lot of new development. ⁓

    can be challenging as you know, right? And so right now, because there’s so much new development, and I don’t specifically know for New Jersey, because I haven’t been back there looking at real estate in a while, what forces are at play in New Jersey, for instance, that are making it so that you can continue flipping? And is there any increased difficulty now versus, say, a couple years ago?

    Scott Forgue (13:11)
    you

    Well right now the affordable housing space is mostly apartments. Building homes for people affordably doesn’t really exist. It’s all just basically apartments for people.

    And that’s why I said we stay in a niche where people can qualify for the homes because our ARV isn’t an extremely high ARV. We like to be in like the 250 to 400 K range. So it makes it affordable for people. The one we’re doing now is a little bit more expensive because it’s almost like a new construction. But for the most part, that’s where we try to stay.

    Dylan Silver (13:53)
    Yeah.

    Scott Forgue (14:03)
    Sometimes it goes up to 500 so kind of expanding because the prices are higher now and everything’s more expensive but ⁓ You know, we kind of look at it and then try to explain to people like

    Everybody’s afraid to buy right now because interest rates and this and that and I just say look can you afford the monthly payment? If you can afford the monthly payment then go after the house don’t don’t rent an apartment because people get trapped once they start renting it’s hard to get out of that because of the money that you have to pay every month right so that’s one of the things that we explain to people is if you can afford a $1,600 a month rent can you afford a $1,600 a month mortgage? And the answer should be yes because usually with that mortgage payment your tax and insurance are included.

    Dylan Silver (14:26)
    it is.

    Right.

    Scott Forgue (14:43)
    So ⁓ that’s one of the things we try to explain to people and educate them on because.

    know, renting an apartment is great, but there’s no asset. You don’t have no asset. You don’t have no equity. You don’t have nothing of value. So that’s part of our education with people is to show them that you need to build something for yourself other than renting an apartment is great.

    And don’t get me wrong, we’re landlords too. But that’s what it comes with flipping. And that’s why we gear towards the veterans also because they are looking for homes. They’re not all looking for an apartment. They’re looking for a home that they can bring their family into and live there and not have a neighbor on the other side of the wall. Some want that.

    Dylan Silver (15:42)
    Mm-hmm.

    Right.

    Scott Forgue (15:59)
    some don’t so that’s why can gear to that and have that challenge resolved from the people that are looking to buy.

    Dylan Silver (16:07)
    When we talk about

    ⁓ flipping to potentially ⁓ new buyers, first time buyers, or for folks who may be considering multiple options, you mentioned, hey, I might be looking at renting, I might be looking at buying a home, which one is right for me? I’m gonna be locked into this payment for so long. My perspective, and I’m sure yours and a lot of other investors, is you have to get into the game.

    You know, it’s either you’re renting and you’re not in the game or you’re an owner and you’re in the game. Granted, right now especially, it does feel like you have to think like a real estate investor to make it work long term. Otherwise, it may be this big stress in your mind saying, hey, you know, I’ve got this payment and I’m gonna have to make it until this home’s paid off and however long that is, that’s a huge commitment. On the education side, what are some of the

    Scott Forgue (16:57)
    Yeah, so to make it work.

    Dylan Silver (16:59)
    feedback and advice that you give veterans and folks in general when they’re looking at ⁓ becoming homeowners.

    Scott Forgue (17:09)
    Well, I think one of the piece of advice like I was saying is don’t look at it as a debt, look at it as an asset, right? You have to pay to live somewhere, pay somewhere that’s affordable for you to qualify to be at and potentially look to have some equity in it or you know it may go up in value so that you will have equity in it in a short period of time. A lot of people tend to sell and move over a short period of time also.

    So that’s the other benefit of a real estate. When you rent, you don’t have that ability. You just get your security deposit back, but it’s not a big asset there, right? ⁓ So now you can utilize your asset to help you. mean, unfortunately, lot of people put more debt on it, but you could qualify for a heat lock down the road, which then you could use to invest with someone and something else like a business or more real estate or stocks, anything like that. That’s going to make you more money instead of just being a debt. ⁓

    So it’s a difference in the mindset, but that’s one of things I would explain to people is, you you have an asset, won’t you purchase it, not just a debt.

    Dylan Silver (18:16)
    Do you help folks at all on the ⁓ flipping side? If they express interest, hey, I’m gonna purchase this property, but I’d like to get into flipping or long-term buy and hold. Do you provide them any direction there?

    Scott Forgue (18:30)
    Sure, we explain that to people up front like what are you looking to do first of all? Because everybody says they want to invest so we we ask them what do they want to invest like how do you want to invest? What do you mean? Do you want to do wholesaling? Do you want to do flipping? Do you want to be a landlord? What is it you’re looking to do? We get them to think about that if they know then they respond if not then we explain to them the differences between it and ask them to figure it out because ⁓

    We look at it and say, if you’ve never fixed a toilet or a kitchen sink, then being a landlord may not be for you right now. You need, you should learn how to do those things. Even though you’re going to hire somebody, you should learn what it takes to do that. So you’re not getting ripped off or always going, oh my God, there’s all this work that needs to be done. So to understand that, to be a landlord, uh, flipping is you’re going to rely on contractors. Um, so what we tell people is, you know, if you’re going to flip and you’re going to not do the work yourself, at least go there and ask the contractor questions on a

    Dylan Silver (19:15)
    Right.

    Scott Forgue (19:28)
    Make sure they’re showing up. Make sure the work is being done. Ask questions. Learn about it. Even before you go in.

    If you can get a contractor that you know to go with you to walk the property so they can explain you what needs to be done. We try to tell people, hey, walk through the property. Here’s a sheet. We give them a sheet and walk through it and look at things in the house that need to be done. Does that look like it needs to be repaired or is it something that can be lived in the way it is without having to repair it? Write that list down and then we can go over the numbers with people. We’ll even walk a property with them. If it’s close enough, we have the time to do it. We’ll go over the property with them. We’ll join.

    partner with people on flips. Wholesaling we don’t join venture with, that’s up to people to do that, but ⁓ you know even with landlording we can go in and help them join venture on it for ownership or we can help them get through the process and you know teach them things.

    Dylan Silver (20:22)
    When we talk about the single family investing space, people fix and flip is the term that most people would be familiar with. you can also look at duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, small multifamily.

    And I’m aware now because of so many lenders I’ve spoken with on the show that this is an asset class which may actually in some cases be more achievable ironically than single family. What’s your perspective on small multifamily? ⁓

    Scott Forgue (20:53)
    For people getting started, it’s a great opportunity because you can house hack it. You live in one unit and have the other tenants.

    live in the other three and pay the mortgage for you through the rent. And the utilities are controlled through that also. So it’s a great opportunity for people to become a homeowner and a landlord at the same time, if that’s the route they’re trying to go. But it also gets them in the game because it’s a little bit different when you’re buying a multifamily and you look at the rental income as part of the capital for you to pay the bill every month. So on a single family, it’s basically what do you make? And that’s it. The other side is what do you make?

    Dylan Silver (21:25)
    Mm-hmm.

    Right.

    Scott Forgue (21:30)
    bringing in with the other tenants, this is overall what it is and do you qualify for that? So it does make it a little easier for people to get in the game that way.

    Dylan Silver (21:40)
    I’m a big fan of some of these strategies that I’ve heard and if honestly it wasn’t for some of the connections that I’ve made through this show, would be ⁓ hard to imagine that it’d be easier to buy a triplex than a single family in some cases. Apparently that is a thing. ⁓ Scott, we are coming up on time here. Where can folks go to reach out to you to learn more about your business and what you have going on? How can folks get in contact?

    Scott Forgue (21:59)
    Sure.

    Well, so I have a lot of different, we have multiple businesses. We’re out there on social media. So you can find me myself, you know, on Facebook and LinkedIn. You can find me through our real estate group, CNJREIG. We have a website. We have a Facebook group called Central NJ Real Estate Group. ⁓ You can do email. I’m at [email protected].

    Or you can do [email protected]. This way if I miss the email, my wife will see it. We’re always out helping people, so it’s not something we just, we make money at what we do, but our goal is to help people first. That’s why we’re a little different than most people. And our flips are a little different than most investors. You can do our Gmail, [email protected]. You can Google us, you know, you can find us everywhere.

    Dylan Silver (23:01)
    Alright.

    You’re everywhere. They’ll search it in and they’ll find you. They’ll email you. They’ll find you somewhere. ⁓ Scott, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for coming on the show here today.

    Scott Forgue (23:10)
    Yeah.

    Okay,

    thank you, Dylan, having me. I appreciate it. Have a great day.

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