Calling all Old School Multifamily Investors for help

[Joseph Medina]

Hey Everyone, my last post I received some great help, but now, I am looking for advice/ guidance. It's practically July and The Fed meets at the end of July, and three more times after that. I expect slight increases in interest rates maybe a few base points, but nothing like the 75 that happened this month (June) if the market does not slow down if the market does slow down then I wouldn't expect any more interest hikes, especially with gas prices pushing down traveling demands and slowing the economy down in its own way. 

My question is: 

For the more seasoned RE Investor, like investing in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, how did you go about finding multi-family deals and making the numbers work?  

I could only assume interest rates back in those times I listed were pretty high , because SFR mortgages were high; moreover, how did you go about funding them? Because everyone who says "I'll wait for the next crash" doesn't realize that unless they have a stack of cash piled high, no lender will lend money during the crash and if they do the terms will be highly unfavorable and good lenders will be far and few between with some going out of business.

So how do you invest in the "storm"? 

Even those who invested in the 2008 bubble burst, I would love to hear how you were able to secure financing and what not!

[Pat L.]

I bought heavily during the 80's with rates @ 18-19%, but the homes I concentrated on sold for about 1-2 years my salary. Conv. financing was tough so I concentrated on seller financed sales & rented EVERY room. I even had duplexes rented by the room, plus put rooms in the basements. I converted some of the bigger older homes into 3 units doing all the work myself as permits & zoning were extremely lax. Once the rehabs were completed I was able to refi into rates dropping to 9%. As prices increased I reluctantly sold off a few to achieve free & clear status on those I kept. There were many years of frugal, knuckle busting living but I retired early & never looked back. I still have several from that era, now worth a LOT of $$$.