Single Family vs. Multi-Family - ANYONE doing Single Family?

[Cynthia Oistad]

Is anyone out there seeing cash flow with single family home investing? Are we ignorant to avoid cash-flowing multi-family properties?

Hi Everyone!  My husband and I are newbies to real estate investing and we are trying to learn as much as we can!  When we purchased our primary home, we decided to rent out our first home (a single family duplex). We have been able to self-manage it and keep our costs relatively low and the home is paid off this year so we are seeing good monthly cash flow.  We are going to close on another single family 2BR/2BA property in Las Vegas this fall.  Because we only have experience self-managing the ONE single family town home for past 9 years,  we lean to acquiring Single Family homes because it is what we know.  With single family rentals we like that the quality of tenants are higher and we don't have as many issues with non-payment, eviction, vacancy, tenant issues, and overall hassle for us as owners.

However, It seems most Bigger Pockets and Real Estate education points to multi-family being a more solid investment for cash flow, due to economies of scale, cash flow spread across multiple units, vacancy not all at once, etc. We would of course use a management company if we were to buy a multi-family building to lessen the stress/hassle of owning the property. 

 Can investors make good cash flow solely off a portfolio of single-family rental homes?  or do we really need to start considering multi-family properties (w/ a reputable management company)?

[Terrell Garren]

My "dead equity" in a portfolio of debt free SFHs allowed me to retire early and have an enjoyable business that cash flows life.  Obviously, choices are based on goals, savings, age, etc.  I quite enjoy managing 17 or so SFHs. I have no desire to manage multi-family buildings.  If I croaked tomorrow, my kids would appreciate inheriting SFHs.  They would skip my funeral if I left them an apartment building.