Single- or Multi-Family in Cleveland?

[Joseph Turner]

I'm looking to make my first investment purchase in the Cleveland, Ohio area and having difficulty deciding to focus on either a single- or multi-family property.

My original thought was to focus on single-family due to more familiarity and my understanding that it would most likely attract a longer-term tenant with hopefully less headache.  However, after analyzing multiple properties in the area, it seems that multi-family more easily meets or exceeds the 1% rule (of thumb) and would thus probably bring more cashflow.

I would much prefer to have a stable long-term tenant than to have yearly turn-over but am trying to get a better feel for the opportunity cost difference between the two types of housing.  Does the additional cashflow of multi-family outweigh the headache, etc?

Thank so much for any feedback and experience!

[Dan Thompson]

@Joseph Turner one nice thing about sfr is the utilities in Cleveland ...the tenants pay them but not on multi ...you are responsible.