by Theresa Bradley-Banta
Are you serious about investing in multifamily real estate?
Here’s what you do. Right now. Get in your car, or local taxi, and start driving around town. Picture yourself owning every small multifamily property and large apartment building you see.
When you look at apartment buildings or smaller multifamily properties and imagine yourself as the owner, amazing things will start to happen.
Why? Because you’ll:
- Set the intention of ownership in your mind, and
- Begin to get a feel for what you’ll do as an owner of investment real estate.
You’ll start to see how you can turn your dream of property ownership into something that can actually happen. Your dream moves out of the world of fantasy and becomes something you can actually touch, see and feel.
Amazing Thoughts and Questions Start Coming to Mind
You’ll start to think about things like:
Is it snowing? Who’s going to be shoveling those walks? You? Your manager?
Is it raining? Does the roof leak? Is there proper drainage around the building? Are all of the windows intact?
Is it late a night? Who’s hanging around the neighborhood? Are the residents safe and secure? Does the property have good security lighting?
Picture Yourself Owning the Property
When you see and picture yourself owning a residential investment property you’ll find yourself thinking about the lives you can impact by being a superb landlord.
When I first started looking at properties I dreamed about improving the health and well being of my residents by providing a safe and clean living environment. I still do. As an owner I’m able to make life so much better for the residents of each property.
You can do the same thing.
Look at a multifamily property and picture yourself owning and renting it out. How many units does it have? How many bedrooms are in each unit? What amenities does the property offer? How can you improve on that?
For example, if you see a property with overflowing trash dumpsters do you find yourself wondering how much of that trash could be recycled? You have the power to do something about that. You can set it up so your residents have an easy to use recycling program.
Start Looking At Multifamily Properties With a Critical Eye
Look at the poorly kept and run down properties you see and imagine how you can improve them. Think about how you’ll negotiate a better purchase price by using the deferred maintenance as a negotiation strategy.
Tip: An excellent way to find off-market deals is to locate properties that clearly need work. A property in distress, one where an owner is struggling to keep up on maintenance, may be a candidate for acquisition. It never hurts to contact the current owner and make an offer to buy.
Get a clear picture in your mind of the team you will put in place—your manager, contractors, maintenance and other service providers.
Can you see yourself doing this?
By completely envisioning yourself as an apartment building owner you’ve leaped what might be the hardest hurdle to cross into actual ownership. It will help you get out of theory and into practice—off the Internet, out of books and into action.
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Helpful tool: Setting clear intentions is a powerful way to realize your dreams. I hope this article will help you get into action. Without sounding too “salesy” I want to mention my book Invest In Apartment Buildings: Profit Without The Pitfalls.
In Chapter Four, Be An Informed Investor, you’ll find two excellent due diligence check lists:
- Critical items to look for when you drive by multifamily properties and apartment buildings, and
- The things you must make note of during a multifamily property showing (it’s not the same as touring a house).
I encourage you to contact your local commercial broker and set some property showings.
Related Article
How to Succeed As a Multifamily Investor
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