Apartment Investing Rookie

[Brett Wagner]

So, I've been working on saving for an investment property (1st one) and along comes an opportunity to buy an apartment building (6 units; $130k). It needs a lot of work, but it is fully occupied with long-term tenants because the rent is so low. The owner told me he has not done much to maintain the place hence the rents being so low. So as I'm mulling over whether to go for it, it dawns on me: I could sell my house, take the equity and buy a nicer apartment building which creates more NOI and /or one that is better managed. This would obviously give me a big boost in my cash to get going in REI.

But being a rookie (and having a family of 6), maybe going a little smaller might be better?

What do you think?

[Glenna Wood]

I would be cautious about buying a place with existing tenants knowing the building is not up to code. You're buying someone's deffered maintenance problem. If you plan to up the rents, a long term tenants may get disgruntled and file formal complaints. If you don't have capital to fix quickly, could get difficult quickly. I would buy the best building I could afford.