What does “Units” officially refer to?

Question

I know this may seem like a simple question, but I just need some clarification. When investors say that they own “30 units” or “10 units”, does units refer to individual rooms in a property they have invested in? Or does it refer to the actual number of properties that they own?

Brya Freeland · Answer

@Seth Borman @Corey Hawkinson @Kyle J. Account Closed

Thank you all for your responses and knowledge on this topic. Very much needed clarification and very much appreciated

Kyle J. · Answer

@Brya Freeland A simple way to think about it is number of front doors since that’s usually what they’re talking about. So a single family house is one unit, a duplex is two units, and an apartment complex with 20 apartments would be 20 units. Number of bedrooms within the property is irrelevant.

Account Closed · Answer

Think of it in terms of a postal address.  Each different address is a different unit.  Doesn't matter if it's a condo or apartment or how many people live in them.  Each address is a different unit, which you receive a separate rental payment from.

So, for instance, I managed a 26 unit apartment building.  I lived in one of them, which was the manager's apartment.  So, I managed 25 units in a 26 unit apartment building.  Each apartment had it's own postal address.

Even if they're all apartments and no other kind of rental, it's just a nice little word that's easy to say - unit - instead of apartment.

Lee Bell · Answer

Size does not matter either. It could be a 10,000 SF house but it's still only 1 unit.

But something like that you would probably not call a unit.

Brya Freeland · Answer

@Corey Hawkinson Ok so units really refer to multi-families, apartment buildings, duplexes, triplexes, etc and Single Family homes represent 1 unit. Got it.

Corey Hawkinson · Answer

@Brya Freeland single family home is 1 unit. The number of bedrooms does not matter in relation to the term.

Brya Freeland · Answer

@Corey Hawkinson Thanks for the clarification Corey. So if you have a Single Family home let’s say 3bd/2ba, would that be 3 units or 1 Unit since it’s a single family?

Brya Freeland · Answer

@Seth Borman Thank you Seth!

Corey Hawkinson · Answer

@Brya Freeland If a person owns a duplex, a triplex and an apartment complex that has 10 apartments in the complex they have 15 units. 2 + 3 + 10 = 15.

Units are somewhat easier to say to show how “big” an investor is. For example, I own 3 rental properties, but they are small properties. 2 condos and a 4-plex for a total of 6 units. But if someone owns 2 large apartment buildings they might have 150 units. Clearly they are much bigger than I am even though I own 3 properties and they own 2.

Seth Borman · Answer

It's the number of dwelling units.

What does “Units” officially refer to?

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