Looking for a commercial MF realtor in Atlanta -

[Kusum Chanrai]

Hello! I'm looking at investing in a multi-family building in Atlanta. I have 2 questions: 

1) Can anyone recommend a great multi-family realtor? 

2) What are the best resources to understand the Atlanta market better - in terms of which areas represent strong investment areas, and which ones are best to stay away from? 

Thanks! 

[Joel Owens]

Yep size matters with number of units. That multifamily train here left about 4 to 5 years ago. Those sellers today are pumping 6.5 caps on 20 to 40 year old buildings saying 3% vacancy, 35% opex, 4% rent growth etc. when historically the numbers are closer to 10% vacancy, 50% opex, and 1 to 2% rent growth.

So many investors chasing this stuff right now. The people making the money are the seller exiting that bought 3,4,5 years ago.

I would not want to own an older building from afar unless you can get scale and own 80 units or more and anything decent per door is about 70k to 80k now so 5,600,000 to 6,400,000 to get more passive.

Texas is about the only state outgrowing Georgia right now. We are one of the hottest states in the nation for investing right now.  

Most Cali investors I work with are sitting on big equity gains but getting 3 to 4% cash on cash if they are lucky with rents. They want to 1031 exchange rather than losing about half the equity upside through a straight sale. So brokers and sellers target these buyers because the local guys will not pay the 6 caps the sellers want but the 1031 out of state usually will.

Say what range for units and what expectation with cash on cash and cap rate and I can give a general sense in the current cycle if that is  a pipe dream or not.