Buying an apartment complex with an assignment of contract?

[Michael Wentzel]

Like so many others, I have been looking for small multi-families over the last year. I have browsed through hundreds of properties and run the numbers on dozens. They were either too expensive or located in a challenging neighborhood.

Then last week I received an email from an investor selling an apartment complex. He is in Texas. The property is in Ohio. I ran my numbers and dug a little deeper into the deal. Then I talked to my partner (who has way more experience than me) and he thought it was interesting.

As the process has moved along over the last week (emails and phone calls) it has become clear that the seller (in Texas) has the property (in Ohio) under contract and that he would like to assign the contract to us. I have done this numerous times with single-family properties, but is it common in larger multi-family properties? This property has over 100 units. My partner in the past has only purchased apartments through brokers.

Mike