How Picky Should I be when making offers on multi-units?

[John Otto]

Hello..new to this website...great info and topics.

Have a local agent who deals with buying multi-units (duplex, tri plex, quadplex etc)

Located in Fresno, CA.  Have probably reviewed approx 20 or so potential units.  Each potential listing, was steered away because of location, rough areas, bad tenant potential, etc.

The agent has been in the business very long time, and i feel he has my best interests in mind, since he could easily just "sell" me a listing im interested in.

My question for those who have experience...is this the path to stay on? Being very selective, patient, etc.  Or sometimes do you just need to take the chance?

Thanks!

[Jeff Zimmerman]

@John Otto. I like your question, the answer is yes and no. I’ve found a number of my clients who DONT buy anything for a long time struggle with one or a combo of these things 1. Fear, which is real, but if fear makes the decisions there will never be a property good enough. 2. Inability to see the big picture, the actual numbers may not look good now but what COULD they look like after you take over and also what is happening in the overall MFH market, does it keep moving up or down? 3. Unrealistic expectations, they want a return that is rare to get and they need to lower them or take their money into another asset type. These clients think they should write low offers but the reality is that all of us agents have someone we can “dump” a property to who will do a smooth transaction at a low ball price. So a newbie doesn’t really stand a chance to get this until they are in good standing with an agent.

I’d say, just make sure you know what you want and that your expectations are realistic, then stay the course. Good luck.