Would you rather? Single Fam or Multi-family?

[Michael Peralta]

Hi BP Community - 

I am eager to get started in Real Estate and purchase my first home. For years, I formed a mental strategy to find a multi-family house and house hack just like all the BP Legends.

However, as I look through the MLS during COVID, I notice it's still nearly impossible to find a descent Multi-fam property in Bergen County at around $400K.

As a result, Im contemplating shifting my focus a bit and purchasing a single family house instead. It will be a shift in strategy but, I feel stuck at the moment and I eager to get started in Real Estate.

[Daniel A.]

I will start by asking you, How many offers have you made on multi-family properties?

I, for one, prefer multi-families because they tend to generate more cash. One single family home will bring in, say, 1,200, where as a duplex can bring in maybe 1,800. (Numbers, of course, vary.) But if you are solely relying on what you're seeing on the MLS and are subsequently considering changing your business strategy based upon that, then you should stop and consider a few things. If you're not making offers, then you're not trying. If your offers are getting rejected, why are they getting rejected? How do you propose an offer to a seller? Do you just throw out a number that works for you and hope that they assent? Or do you take the time to run comps, consider costs on your end? Do you convey these costs to the buyer? Do you also let the buyer know how it is that you will be paying them? If they see that you've been pre-qualified, if they see that you have an itemization of your anticipated costs, then they will be more likely to accept your offer. But then again, rejection in real estate is like face masks in an airport. It's abundant. 

Don't let your eagerness to get into real estate allow you to cut corners. Embrace that eagerness and use it to drive you to make outstanding presentations. Let your motivation shine through in ways that the seller can be nothing other than impressed.