Multi Family Inspection - What to look for? Red Flags?

Question

Hi Everyone,

I put an offer in on my first multi family building: a 7 unit, 100 year old building in Albany NY (Most North East inventory in my price range is this age). The question is: any specific items or red flags I should be looking for / have my contractor and inspector looking for and focusing on during the inspection?

The foundation is key... lots of time spent in the basement looking at electrical boxes and heating units etc... the roof...

Any advice on this for a new guy??

Thanks!

Dan

Christopher Catano · Answer

I just bought a 2 family home outside of Albany built in 1859. Pretty sure the house was torn down and rebuilt on the foundation at some point. This was my first purchase, feel free to ask any questions.

Russell Brazil · Answer

Heres my advice.....you will probably want to overreact to what the inspection comes back with because you arnt use to looking at them. When you do, take a deep breath, dont get scared and lean on someone with more experience to talk you through the report.

Ryan Miller · Answer

I own two multi units just outside of Albany that are right around the 100 year mark. Certainly a lot of considerations but they don't make them like that anymore.

Colin Stuart · Answer

@Dan Talmi Congratulations! Definitely would recommend you do an environmental inspection to uncover stuff like mold, take a look at the roof, and see how old your water heater / furnace are. I would also do a lease audit to see what types of jobs the existing tenant base has.

I have a property management company in Albany, let’s connect.