single family vs. multi family properties in Houston

[Iman Yu]

hi there, 

I am pretty new to real estate investing. I would like to find my first property in Houston in invest in. I am positioning myself to be buy & hold. From talking to people and listening to pod casts, it seems like multi family property would be a better deal than a single family property to get my hands on.

I would like to get some feed back on that from those who invest in Houston area. Is that true here in the Houston market? Would I be able to find those deals on har.com? What's the price range for those?

I would like to hear the pro's and con's from those who have managed/invested in multi family properties in Houston as well.

Thanks, 

Iman

[Doug McLeod]

With small multi (2-4 units), you can often get higher cash flow relative to price vs single family. But while you still have only one roof and one insurance policy, you have multiple tenants, water heaters, AC, stoves, etc. so your maintenance is higher, too. And your turnover. You need to look at the numbers. Also, be careful buying these in managed communities where they are essentially like condos. There are plenty of posts on the downsides of condos.

Apartment buildings with 5+ units is a different animal. Plenty of info on that on BP too.