Rental Property Investor · Alexandria, VA · Member since 2019 · 60 posts · 10 votes
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?
Rental Property Investor · Northern, CA · Member since 2012 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes
6y
@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.
Rental Property Investor · Bloomington, MN · Member since 2019 · 404 posts · 542 votes
6y
@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.
Rental Property Investor · Northern, CA · Member since 2012 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes
6y
@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.
Rental Property Investor · Alexandria, VA · Member since 2019 · 60 posts · 10 votes
6y
@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?
Rental Property Investor · Alexandria, VA · Member since 2019 · 60 posts · 10 votes
6y
@Corey Hawkinson Ok so units really refer to multi-families, apartment buildings, duplexes, triplexes, etc and Single Family homes represent 1 unit. Got it.
San Jose, CA · Member since 2015 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes
6y
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.