MF Investment Durations

[Ed Matthews]

My wife and I are in our first year of MF investing; learning a lot by reading books, watching videos and podcasts, and attending Meetups and seminars around DFW. We've invested in our first deal. 

The deals we've seen have so far had an underwriting time range of 3-5 years. Why is that range so typical?

One big reason to get into real estate is to hedge against inflation and as a means to get long-term cash flow. That's the mantra I hear from people who buy, hold, and rent out SFRs, but I don't hear that in the MF world; the message I hear is getting in and out of a deal in a few years. Is there a reason syndication wouldn't work for a 20 year or longer period? Or is the legal and financial system structured to offer substantially better returns to these shorter deals?

Thanks!