Why are multifamily homes all in the bad areas?

[Tony Marcelle]

It sure seems like that. I took a trip through different areas outside of town looking for multifamily homes and a few apartments. I did not see not one multifamily home in a decent neighborhood. I searched through Zillow, Loopnet, and listed homes and found nothing in the nicer part of town. I passed though different areas today. Every community looked like trash.

[Aaron K.]

A lot of small mulifamily owners incorrectly assume that deferring maintenance will save them money (it doesn't in the long term)  that leads to the deterioration of buildings, also these units tend to have some of the cheapest rent in town and can be poorly run.  The larger properties in the 100s of unit range tend to be owned by larger companies who have developed systems to maximize returns over the long run.  Also multifamily properties in a lot of areas tend to be older housing stock, builders nowadays can put in the same effort and sell townhomes or condos to owner occupants which are often more profitable for the builder.