How to find duplex or multifamily homes

Question

What are so good sites for me to search for duplex properties as well as multi family homes? I tried the zillow and sites like that but they don't have options for duplex only townhomes, condos, and sfh. Any suggests? Or have I been looking in the right place all along and just too busy over thinking and having brain farts?!?

David Dey · Answer

Actually, your county property appraiser/assessor is the absolute best place to look.  You may not have thought about it but they have a database of every property in that county.

"Why?" You may ask.

"To charge taxes of course."

The cool thing is though, since it is the government that has gathered this info, it is public record and you have a right to it.

My county in FL already has it available right on the website, however you may have to go to your assessor and ask for it in person.

In addition to having the database of properties, your county also has them categorized by property type as well.  Of course they couldn't charge the same tax rate for a single family property as they could for a strip mall, so they label each property with other like property.  My county calls these labels DOR use codes. (Department of revenue)  Your county may call them property use codes as well.

Depending on how you get your list (example: excel spreadsheet) you can make your own list by including your own filters, such as duplexes with out of state or out of county owners, duplexes with sales from oldest to newest which will give you high equity deals, etc.  the sky's the limit with how you structure your list.

Hope this helps.

David Dey · Answer

That's the beauty of dealing with duplexes and multifamily property, and why I specifically use this strategy for 2-10 unit properties.

I don't care if you bought a duplex as a standard investor or you decided to buy one and live in one side and rent out the other.  Either way you had one thing in mind, cash flow!!  That puts you into a category called investor.  And investors have one thing in common.  As opposed to single family houses that can be mired in emotional entanglements, everything's for sale for the right price.

I actually skip the people on the list and call them up with a very simple elevator pitch.

"I'm an investor in "blank" city (where ever the property is) and own property in the area of your place on "123 abc st," I found out who owned it and was calling you to see if you've ever thought about selling the place."

In all the times I have made those calls, I have only ever got one harsh response.  All others responded with either no, yes, or how much.

You can always try a mailing campaign and will get similar results, (not necessarily in open rate) but in thought process from the person who owns the property.  I just feel that I get he most bang for my buck with the calls.

Hope this helps.

Dominic Jones · Answer

Depends on where you're looking first of all, because there are some local MLS sites from local brokerages that will have more information in their listings than trulia or zillow and more accurate information at that sometimes.

If you can't find or don't have any website like that available, you can still find multi family homes on zillow and trulia.

For Zillow:

You have to search in your zip code or neighborhood or what have you, and when you get to the search results page, just click more (along the top where the search filters are at)

Then change home type to apartments. You can uncheck everything else here if you're only looking for multi families. Zillow recognizes multi families as "apartments" in house type.

For Trulia:

You have to search in your zip code or neighborhood or what have you, and when you get to the search results page, just click more filters (along the top where the search filters are at).

Then under Property Type, change it from the pre-selected to multi-family home.

I believe Trulia is a little bit more judicious when it comes to separating properties by type so you should only find 2-4 units with the multi-family home option picked out. Don't be surprised if you do find 5+ units in there though every now and then, and don't be surprised you find 2-4 units listed under "apartment" property type either.

Hope this helps. Reach out anytime for more conversation about buying multi-family. It's my niche and I love talking about getting into one and strategizing around the purchase of one.

Best,

Dom

Douglass Benson · Answer

Honestly, when we started apartment investing 10 years ago, we drove around looking for buildings that we liked in areas close to where we live.  When we found one, we went to the registrar of deeds and figured out who owned the building and cold called him.  That is how we purchased our 16 unit building and the seller and I are now business partners and good friends.  Sure, we like to look up stuff online, but most of our buildings came to us because people heard that we were apartment investors and they started bringing us deals.  Get the word out that this is what you do and they will come.

Dominic Jones · Answer

I just wanted to state that all of the county sites are not the same. Some county websites are FARRRRRRR better than others. For instance, for York County, PA our tax assessors page is probably half a page and it only gives you very little information such as who the property is deeded to right now (owners names), land use code (which can be used to verify property types and start a mailing campaign, and the assessed value of the property that we have to then use to go manually find out the projected taxes in our county from a tax calculator everyone uses in the area.

I've been to other county websites that will actually pull up a report that's similar to an mls listing and has all of that above information, as well as the predicted taxes all predetermined and broken down for you. Their website has photos of the property sometimes and multiple navigational tabs on the left hand side and across the top with additional information.

Baltimore County, where I'm from, also has a far superior website in comparison to York county's (in pa).

Bottom Line w/ the county websites is that it depends on the county. Some are better than others is all I wanted to say, but you can still definitely use the least functional ones to still find and identify parcels / property that have the land code / property type.

Using this method is definitely very time consuming though, especially if you're just looking just to look and not looking in a specific area and have a specific plan / thing you're looking for.

Best,

Dom

John Britt · Answer

This might have already been said, but have you tried loopnet?  It is free to sign up.

David Dey · Answer

@Dominic Jones I will definitely agree with you that not all county sites are created equal.  However, the counties still have all that info.  As I mentioned in my post, you may actually have to go in person to your local assessor/ appraiser's office to get the list but it is definitely worth it.

You are absolutely right that it can be very time consuming but no one said that this business was easy.  In fact, that's why this approach has brought me such good success, because most "investors" will not go this far to get a great deal.

One thing that one could do to resolve the issue of dealing with the monotonous work is to hire a VA to do the research for you, though I do recommend you doing 50-100 yourself so you understand what is being done.  (Kind of like I recommend that you work on your own rehab first to get an understanding of what is happening, if only not to get screwed by your contractors)

Dom, You definitely have a higher understanding of public records than most.  So kudos to you!!

Hook up with me on PM sometime and we will chat.  I may be able to share additional ways for you to profit from your knowledge that you haven't thought of.

Dominic Jones · Answer

@David Dey -  no time to type what I want to say. Great posts. Mention me again when you read this so I can post what I want to say when I have time.

Best,

Dom

How to find duplex or multifamily homes

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