Apartment building questions

[Chad Clark]

Ok, I'm newish to the scene (4 single family, 1 multi) and have done the fix and flip to the point where I could build my own house at this point quite easily. I'd like to start branching off into the apartment building scene as it seems like the logical next step. I mainly have just been going the BRRR route so far.

So being new to this, I have a couple of questions since they fall into the commercial zone. 

1.   What's the top things to remember when buying one of these?   Square footage affecting price?  Utility that makes a huge difference when buying ie. sewer or something expensive if it's bad.     

2. Is there such a thing as DSCR loans or is that only smaller buildings. What type is usually used or do most people just cash buy these?

3.  Are sellers usually just trying to cash in or are they retiring?   I see no real good reason why anyone would want to sell one of these so I was curious mostly about that.   My area is a resort area so it's a concern.  

4.  Building vs buying existing?  Seems building would be pricey, but buying existing seems like it might land you in a position where the rents can't cover the new mortgage and costs due to what they want for them.  

5.  Can you 1031 duplexes into these or is it not enough of a "like" property?

6.  Better to just buy some storage units, RV park, or something like straight to pure commercial, strip mall etc.  

I'm pretty comfortable buying houses, but these fall under some different rules.  I'm just seeing what those rules are.   Any other thoughts are welcome.