@Jon Holdmansorry for the confusion but what I meant was giving the lender a Deed of Trust to provide them some security in the deal. I'm not sure you can do that in PR but @Victor Chicocan chime in. Someone told me that only financial institutions/banks can hold mortgages in PR. A private individual can not act as a bank and foreclose on a property. Again, this I'm not 100% sure.
On the apartment topic... In Puerto Rico there aren't apartment complexes like here in the states. You can't buy a 200-300 apartment deal because there aren't any. You can buy 1 or 10 units on a condo building and rent them if you which but that concept of an apartment building with a leasing office and common area pool and clubhouse were EVERYBODY is renting and there's a resident property manager just doesn't exist down there. I know property managers that manage individual rentals for investors in different buildings or multiple SFH and that's about it.
When you read ads be careful because in Puerto Rico we refer to Condos as both Apartamentos and Condominios. We don't make that distinction that apartments are only rental units and condos you can buy. To this date I still confuse the term sometimes and tell anglo friends that I'm buying an apartment unit and they give me the look. With that being said, if you have read an ad were they say retail on the first floor and apartments on the higher floors, maybe they are referring to condos on the higher floors, not apartments as known here in the mainland.
The only time I have seen complete apartment buildings is around college towns. For example my uncle owns a 12 unit 3-story "apartment" building near the Univ. of PR that he self manages. That would be the one exception were I can see buying a true apartment building would somewhat mimic what's done here in the states.
I hope this clarify some of the questions. PM me if you need more info.
