Why are people buying at these prices?

[Josephine Wilson]

Newbie question here: I'm looking to buy a Class A triplex or quad within 10 minutes of my house and doing property management and maintenance myself. I live close to a large university. Of the 20 recently-sold small multis I've analyzed, nearly all have little to no cash flow and cap rates averaging 4.6%. (2048/2050 E 6th St, Tucson, AZ 85719 is one example.) Some even have substantial negative cash flow. Everything I'm reading says these cap rates are not favorable. So why are people buying these properties?

I'm thinking the buyers are A) hoping for appreciation and don't mind no cash flow, B) planning to increase NOI or hoping that market rents will rise, C) wealthy parents buying a place for Johnny/Susie to live for four years or D) house hacking. Can folks offer their insights into why buy properties with negative cash flow and low cap rates?

For anyone interested, here are my estimates for my example property: 2048/2050 E 6th St, 85719

Price: $245,500, two 1BR units, 1219 sq ft total

Rent: $1454

Maintenance: $205

P&I: $938

Taxes: $195

Cash flow: -$39

Cash on cash: -0.7%

Cap rate: 4.4%

[Brian Ellwood]

Yeah, that wouldn't cashflow like you observed. The short answer is that these people don't know what they're doing, or they're buying with cash just to have a more predictable asset versus holding stocks or something like that. 

I've done hundreds of deals and never bought a listed property before. Don't worry too much about what's going on with listed properties, the real savvy investors are often operating off-market, unless they're in a really cheap market where rent/price ratios are inherently better. 

Is Tucson a good market, numbers wise?