Where to Find Apartment Building Foreclosures

Due to easy, high leverage financing and falling commercial real estate values many apartment building owners are now facing foreclosure.  This leaves a lot of opportunity for those apartment building investors who are willing to invest the time and energy into finding a great apartment building investment at a rock bottom price.  It can be difficult to find listings of apartment building foreclosures because in many cases they are handed over to commercial Realtors who may not even advertise the apartment building as a foreclosure. 

Fortunately, the internet has a large number of websites which feature apartment building foreclosure listings, however, none of these websites is devoted solely to multifamily properties.  Therefore it is necessary to visit a number of different websites and do some searching within the websites themselves.  Below are some websites where you can begin your search.

Sources for Foreclosed Commercial Real Estate

Craigslist– is one of the largest and most popular online classifieds website.  You can begin by searching under the commercial real estate section for distressed owners who are selling their property.  Another strategy is to post an ad under the commercial real estate section so that commercial property owners contact you.  This allows you to be specific about what you are looking for.  Here is a sample ad below:

Headline: Are You an Apartment Building Owner Facing Foreclosure?

Advertisement: I am a professional commercial property investor who is ready to purchase apartment buildings from distressed owners.  I am able to close quickly on apartment buildings that fit my criteria.  Currently, I am seeking to acquire 10 to 60 unit apartment buildings without a lot of deferred maintenance.  Please contact me today to find out how I can purchase your apartment building quickly.

Loopnet – is probably the most popular commercial property listing website on the internet.  You will have to peruse the listings closely to find those apartment buildings that are in foreclosure or distressed.   Loopnet.com does not currently allow visitors to search specifically for apartment building foreclosures.

Bank Websites – Many commercial investors don’t realize that banks also list their commercial real estate on their own websites.  This method can be a great way to find bank owned foreclosures owned by smaller regional banks.  It will require more time researching to find their websites but many of these smaller banks may be eager to unload the property and make a deal that includes financing for the right buyer.

BiggerPockets maintains one of the largest lists of bank REO foreclosure websites, that you can use to assist you.