Ideas to find a Quad plex off market?

Question

Long story short, I am looking to get into the Real Estate Investing world. After my divorce, I moved into an apartment and rented for a couple years. Wanted to get involved in RE last year, but wasn't able to find anything that worked out, so I purchased a SFH so that I could at least stop paying rent. What I really wanted to do was get a Quad Plex and house hack three of the units for a year, and then move out and rent all four as I moved on to the next property. Well, a year is coming up, so now I am looking for a quad again to do that, but the inventory is so limited, and the ones that are available now aren't really in the area I want or the price range I think they're worth to make sense for me. Any advice/suggestions on how the best way to find an off-market quad in my area?

Thank you in advance!

Shaheen Pirouz · Answer

@Duane Gunkler

And congrats on the contract!

Duane Gunkler · Answer

@Bjorik Mutize -- Thanks for the ideas.  The market on multi-family has just gone up so much in the past year in my area (and I would imagine all over the place).  The quads that are available on the MLS now, in the same neighborhood that I was looking a year ago at $250K are now $385K-$400K!

@Ehsan Rishat -- I have been looking at neighborhoods that have multi-family, but there just aren't many in the places I want to live, and what's out there is just way too expensive for me to make the numbers work.  I'm also scared playing those inflated prices in case the market does settle a bit.

@Shaheen Pirouz -- I have been in contact with a couple wholesalers, and some of the issues I mentioned above.  Also, I am looking to do Conventional Financing, so not looking to go the Hard Money line or cash equivalent that a lot of them need.

Bottom line, I decided to take a lower variance approach and went to contract on a Townhouse today.  I'll dip my toe in first and get some exposure to REI and then build from there.  Thank you again to everyone for all the help and advice, not just on this message, but in my time at BP.  Such an amazing resource and network of really nice and helpful peers!

Shaheen Pirouz · Answer

@Duane Gunkler

If it’s a property that you are confident about, you could always purchase with short term financing and then refinance into a more conventional loan after. But only if you are confident that it will appraise.

Shaheen Pirouz · Answer

Have you tried reaching out to local wholesalers? They do all the work of marketing and securing the off markets deals. Of course, there will be a premium attached for their work, and you can expect to pay cash or equivalent (hard money or line or credit), but this is still a great choice for someone who doesn't want to (or can't afford to) do all the work of marketing to find motivated sellers. Be sure to double check their rehab estimates and ARV comps if you decide to go this route. PM if you have any more questions.

Ehsan Rishat · Answer

@Duane Gunkler Have you tried driving for dollars? I'd say that's a great way to try and find off-market properties. There are many success stories, in BiggerPockets, involving driving for dollars. You could also try searching for properties according to your requirements on websites like ListSource.

Direct mailing can be a great way to reach out to these properties. You could also send text messages, Cold Call, send RVM, use Facebook and Google ads to target these properties.

You could also try networking with people at your local REIA meetings. If people know you are willing to invest they may reach out to you with deals.

Good Luck!

Bjorik Mutize · Answer

What are your marketing strategies? I've read a lot of sweat going into reaching out to sellers by direct mail and owner list strategies. Driving properties with distressed/add value opportunities and finding then reaching out to the sellers.

Another way comes down to reaching out to as many Brokers in your area as you can and explicitly telling them the criteria you are looking for. Perhaps not much off market opportunities until a good relationship is built but worth a shot.

Also if you are real serious about getting started don't be afraid to reach out of your market to find what you are looking for.