Questions for experienced MF investors out there

[Mark Neiger]

So I've been doing my homework and learning as much as possible about MF investing. I've recently started using a program to analyze properties and have begun to practice on a few places I've found on Loopnet. Some of the issues I'm having so far...

1. It seems that common knowledge is that anything on Loopnet is a bad deal and that's why it's there. I've been told it's a good place however to fish for brokers to send you the good deals. Any other ideas on finding stuff?

2. How to find prevailing cap rates for specific areas. Call PM's? I asked a few brokers and they just said make an offer and we'll see what happens. I read about using CBRE website to find free market research but have been unable to find any of that info on their site. Anyone know where that is?

3. I'm working on securing investors for capital but heard someone with a large MFRE holding company say that he would rather pay 10% to a hard money lender than have an investor own 30% of his business. Is that total nonsense? Is hard money a good idea to at least get into an asset until you can reposition it? Will a bank even look at you if you are leveraged that way or do they not care where the down payment comes from. And obviously the deal would have to be stellar to even consider personally taking on 100% financing.

4. Finally, since my market (FL) is so competitive I'm concerned that by my conservative underwriting guidelines I'll never win a bid because so many entities are out there throwing money around and paying full asking price. I've heard of a strategy of overpaying for the property to be competetive if there is owner financing available. I'm looking at a 32 unit asking $1M. By my numbers it looks more like an $850-900,000 deal. However the broker says there is a lot of interest in the property. The owners will consider financing with a large down payment. This property has been on Loopnet for a while. Any thoughts?