Evaluating small multi-family

[Walter Ciucevich]

I'm now on my 9th property and up until this point they're all single family homes. I know people speak against it, but I use Zillow to search recently sold comps to help me determine an ARV on these homes and have been for the most part spot on, because I am conservative.

I want to move into small multi-family, 2-8 unite. I can't find comps as easily and I'm not sure if that's the way to go anyways. My question is what is your process for determining ARV on multi-family Properties?

[Anthony Dooley]

@Walter Ciucevich If you are holding these as rental properties to produce income, I am not sure why ARV is important to you. If your plan is to flip, ARV has more to do with the net operating income. Yes, anything under 5 units usually uses comps, however there are hardly any recent sales to run comps. I use NOI and cap rate even for a SFR. The question you need to be asking is, how much will it rent for and how much cash flow do I keep after expenses and debt service. If that number is good for you, it is a good deal. I would keep doing what you have been doing, since you have proven that it works until you can do something on a larger scale.