Multi Family - Are you talking a Plex or an Apartment?

[Greg Scott]

I've found that on Bigger Pockets the term Multi Family can create confusion.

I spent half of my investing career in Single Family and the other in Apartments.   Spending time with apartment owners you will find they use term Multi Family and Apartment interchangeably.  Anything 2-4 units they call a Plex.   I have noticed that many people posting on BP use the term Multi Family differently.  In BP I've seen Multi Family used to describe just about anything of any size as long as it has 2+ units. I recently read a forum post "Where can I get multi family insurance?".  So what is the right answer???

The problem is there is a major difference between managing a duplex and a 100-unit apartment.  (The posting happened to be talking about a duplex)   The financing and insurance for a duplex can generally be purchased by the same companies that support single family.   Once you get to something as big as 100 units, it is a completely different ball game with different companies, different rules.  Generally, anything 5+ units is considered an apartment, although the smaller apartments (e.g. 5-20 units) are kind of in a gray area.

Has anyone else noticed this issue?

Would love to see BP help create greater definition around these groupings as it will drive better discussion in the forums.