Sellers selling 1/2 of Duplex?

Question

Looking around for real estate in central Maryland I'm finding some weird stuff of people posting about duplex's for sale but seemingly only focusing on one side of the property and never implying or mentioning the second side. Is this a common practice to sell half of a duplex for the price of SFHs in the area of approximate size? Or am I just reading too much into it and needing to give them a call to clarify?

Account Closed · Answer

It is not to uncommon In higher price markets 1/2 duplexes can be prevalent They just posted a i/2 in Denver and 1 in Dallas on the BP marketplace

Ned Carey · Answer

@Charlie Vollers the term "Duplex" can mean two distinctly different things. We as investors naturally think of a duplex as a two unit building.

However when two homes are attached (essentially a short row of only two townhouses or two row houses) it can also called a duplex. They are normally deeded separately, with separate owners. Most real estate listings today use the term semi detached to avoid confusion.

Matt K. · Answer

all over in KC, just hop on redfin and type in duplex you'll get tons of results.

Tom R. · Answer

I almost bought one this year. We had agreed on a price and I had already gotten pre approval for a loan amount that exceeds the sale price but when the bank found out it was a half plex they denied my loan. It was a great deal too $32,500 I was going to cash flow $400 with only 6.5k down. I didnt know about bigger pockets back then I bet this group could have helped me find a lender willing to loan me the money.

Charlie V. · Answer

@Victor Evans Thank you for that info, I will definitely be using it.

Victor Evans · Answer

@Charlie Vollers ,  I invest in Frederick, MD so I'm rather familiar with the market... You often find 1/2 duplexes being sold in downtown Frederick from low 100s to mid 200s depending on the location and finishes... If you would like to know more about the listed and adjacent unit, you can look up the parcel # on the county website and find out the owner(s).

frederickcountymd.gov/PropertyExplorer

Beth H. · Answer

Realtors typically refer to these as semi detached and they are sold individually all the time and are on separate deeds.

Steve K. · Answer

@Charlie Vollers , sorry, I didn't mean to put all the emphasis on scrape & build new duplexes, to be sold as "half-duplexes".

A landlord that owns the full duplex (might be 50 or 100 yrs old) could divide the deeds and sell off the halves. The market to own one townhome (retail residential homeowners) is likely higher than selling the whole duplex to the next landlord. An arbitrage potential uplift.

Antoine Martel · Answer

Charlie.

In central Maryland that does sound weird. I have heard about it in other places that are very expensive however. Maybe you should try to learn why they are only selling 1/2 of it and whats going on with the other half. Since your property will be attached to the other side you want to make sure that both sides are kept up.