Problem: Too Much Money - Nowhere To Place It

[Adam Sherritt]

Here is my problem.  I have eager capital begging me for opportunities in the multi-family arena but finding buildings to rehab is proving difficult.  It's not that they aren't out there.  We are in the San Diego region. There are literally THOUSANDS of apartments buildings, but there doesn't seem to be a good/efficient way to FIND them.   

Buildings already listed for sale are easy pickings, and because of this its usually a feeding frenzy.  What interests us more are the buildings not currently for sale but with tired/bored/retiring ownership.  

This is where I could use your input.

My current strategy is this.  Find ALL buildings which meet my criteria (35+ units) in my surrounding cities.  Once I have a list I can start contacting ownership to discuss acquisition.  We have money.  They want money.  Easy enough right?  Not exactly.

My first strategy?  Contact the City to access their databases.  Dead end.  I have contacted city municipalities (building, planning, housing services, ect.) and asked them "do you have a list of apartment buildings in your city with unit count?"  They have all told me  "No, we don't keep that kind of information.  We're not required to."  How a major metropolitan city has no idea how many apartment units they have, or how they are allocated is beyond me.  But it is what it is. 

Strategy #2.  Literally comb Google maps, pin any large buildings that look like apartments.  Once entire city has been combed, research all pins to confirm they are in fact apartments.  Research ownership.  Contact ownership.  Do this for every city.

My question is what do you guys think of this strategy?  Is there a more efficient way?  Often times after I've spent literally hundreds of hours on a project, someone will say to me, "oh, why didn't you do it this (much easier) way?"  Well, I want to learn from my mistakes.  This time I think it's worth my time to ask those more experienced than I before combing through hundreds of aerial photographs.  

I am not afraid of the work.  Sometimes there is no easy way, hell most of the time there is no easy way.  But if there is a more efficient way I am all ears.  

Cheers!

[Matt Leonard]

@Adam Sherritt

How about trying to find a shared service that properties of that size would utilize?  I'm thinking property managers, trash collection, landscaping, etc.  Contact those companies and ask to speak with one of their sales people, they sing like canaries if they think they could get you signed up as a new customer.  Might not get ALL of them, but could be an efficient way to get a bunch.

Another thought (just tried this) would be to search rental listing sites like zillow or apartments.com and use a criteria to filter out all of the smaller units, elevators or fitness centers seem like they would work well.  You can even have them plotted an an ariel map to zoom in like you wanted to do on google maps.  Again, probably won't get ALL of the properties, but another efficient way to get a bunch.