4 viewings tomorrow

[Dante Williams]

Good morning all. I'm new to multi family investing. I've been a real estate wholesaler for 5 years and have wholesaled 2-3 units however this is my first attempt at commercial apartment buildings; I have 4 viewings scheduled tomorrow. I plan to either wholesale the properties for cash or negotiate seller financing and wholesale the properties. My question is I've been having  a tough time getting financial details about the properties before going to view. The owners bulk at the idea of discussing the financials before I view the property. Is it typical for commercial property owners to discuss the financials after viewing and receiving a letter of intent? 

[Jesse Waters]

Part of your home work should be to figure out a bulk of the financial's before hand.  If the apartment complex is all 2br/1ba 1,000sqft units, look for rents on other units in the area that are of similar size & offer similar community features.  In most places you should be able to get the tax record's online & get a good idea of what they have been paying per year on the property.  Armed with that data you can be standing on a stronger footing when you view the property.  

If you determine that the rents should be $750/unit and they tell you that they are only at $625, then perhaps there is room for improvement in the rents, or if they say rents are $1000/month then that might raise a question.  If they have high vacancy, perhaps you can improve on the management, or is that the usual rate for the area?

Hope that helps some.  Not trying to bust your bubble, but I never trust the data that the sellers give me, I always try to figure out for my self what the correct numbers are or should be.  Food for thought and my 2 cents worth.

Best of luck.