Looking for a multi-family REI

[Dominique Long]

Any advice to somebody whose starting out in REI. I was recently pre-approved and my lender told me to start looking at homes so we can get the numbers down. I live in Waterbury CT and there is pretty much nothing good on the market right now to even consider. I'm not looking for something where I have to do major constructions or old and outdated and my max budget is 200K. I really want a 3 family but I'm starting to consider a duplex because they are more up to date and better looking than the 3 families I've seen but the downside to the duplex is I won't produce as much cash flow as I would like. Any advice on whether getting a duplex or 3 family for your first REI? Or any advice in general would be helpful.

[Taylor L.]

Are you going to be living in one of the units? What are typical prices per unit in your area?

If you're buying on a budget, then you have a maximum price per unit that you can pay. Duplex is $100k/ea, triplex is $67k/ea. That's a big difference! You'll probably be in different quality submarkets based on that alone.

When you look at your area, based on this budget, what's the quality of properties you can buy?

I would focus on buying in lower crime, better schools, higher demand neighborhoods. It's more likely you can find that with the duplex budget than the triplex budget.

I think it's time for you to go look at some deals and see which ones you like and don't like!