Rent homes vs. building an apartment complex

[Tiffany Elli]

I grew up flipping homes and loved it  but am looking for a steadier income and good long term investment. Haven’t been in (active) real estate in 10 years. 

About to start a feasibility study and comparison. We will either buy multiple homes to rent out or build an apartment complex. 

We currently have a 5 acre property with an 10k square foot building that can be gutted and resurfaced for a club house for an apartment complex. 

Have appx. 700k cash. Have a great relationship with our banks.

For those that have had rent homes and apartment complexes- what are the pros and cons? We would build the nicest apartment complex in our area and probably start at 20-40 units. With plans to do another 20 units in 1-2 years. We can buy houses for a little cheaper than per unit cost, expecting to spend around 70k per unit. We can buy houses (built in 50’s-60’s, around 1500 sq ft) that need complete renos for $35-60. It seems as tho we could get the same amount per house or apartment per month. 

We are leaning more towards building a complex and using higher end building materials. Like I said, this is our beginning stage. Just want to hear any advice from people with experience and if they had better luck one way or another.