Bird dogging for multi family properties

Hello everyone-

I have been dealing with mostly SFR and have a good idea about what a buyer would want me to find out when I visit a seller. Lately though, I have been getting a lot of responses to my ads from people trying to sell multi family properties. I’ve been debating on how to handle this… I could just turn over the lead to one of my buyers who deal with these kind of properties or do most of the due diligence for them and increase my referral fee. I would prefer to do the latter to get a higher fee and also to learn what sort of things to look for when I will be the one purchasing these properties - after all, that is the main reason why I am bird dogging in the first place.

My question to you all is, what sort of things should I be asking the seller when I go to visit the property? It just seems like a whole different ball game when it comes to multi-families and I’m a little lost. What would you want me to find out for you if you were the one buying from my leads?

Thanks guys, any input is much appreciated.

Great site BTW!
Tim

I assume by “multi-family”, you mean commercial (i.e. five or more units). These are always valued by cash flow. At minimum, a commercial investor will want:

  • A list of the actual expenses (taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance, trash, management, etc., etc.).

  • A rent roll listing the current rent paid by each tenant and the number of vacancies.

  • General condition of the building.

  • It’s location (duh!).

With this info, they can calculate various metrics such as cap rate and cash-on-cash return. As you learn, you’ll be able to calculate these yourself and understand whether a property even makes sense to pursue or present to someone.

Unlike SFH’s, two identical commercial buildings next door to each other can be valued at widely different numbers just on the respective owners management skills.

Thanks Equity!

Tim