Investment in Apartment Buildings – Find Motivated Sellers

As the creator of the “Buy Your First Apartment Building” e-course, I have many potential students and beginning investors who ask me: “How do I find motivated apartment building sellers?”

There are many ways that investors use to find motivated sellers, however, what I see happening many times with beginners is that they start looking for properties to buy before they fully understand how to identify a truly profitable opportunity. Here are my recommendations on how to start learning about multifamily investing, and then how to find motivated sellers.

Start by learning what makes multifamily property profitable by following these steps:

1. Study and learn about what makes an apartment building profitable.
2. Read as many books as possible on real estate investing and apartment building investing. It is much easier to learn from other people’s mistakes. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.
3. Find a reputable real estate investment club in your geographic area and meet with commercial investor members. These “veterans” are a valuable source of market information.

After the aspiring multi-family home buyer has received a thorough education through reading books, industry magazines, and networking with other commercial real estate investors, they are ready to begin the process of searching for real estate. to buy

Contact commercial real estate agents

A great reference source for finding well-educated commercial real estate agents is the CCIM website. The CCIM is a professional designation that qualifies a commercial real estate professional as capable and knowledgeable in the field. You can also find commercial real estate agents through a simple web search.

When looking for a commercial real estate agent, follow these steps:

1. Talk to several commercial real estate agents in the area and ask about “pocket listings.” Pocket listings are owners of apartment buildings that the experienced real estate agent may know and who really want to sell their building, but have not yet listed the property.
2. Find a commercial real estate agent who specializes in multi-family investments. A good commercial real estate agent who specializes in multi-family properties should have a keen understanding of what price apartment buildings have been selling for recently.

Alternative Strategies for Finding Apartment Construction Deals:

1. Place an ad on Craigslist indicating what you are looking for:

“Looking to sell your apartment building? I am a commercial real estate investor interested in purchasing multi-family properties in Philadelphia between 5 and 100 units. I am looking for owner financing for five years with a 5% down payment or I will buy with 20% down payment and a bank loan.
Or here’s an ad I copied directly from Craigslist this morning:

I BUY MULTIFAMILY PROPERTIES WITH SELLER FINANCING OR QUICK CASH. Do you need to sell? moving? Are the tax benefits over? call me for an offer.

2. You can also place the same ad in the commercial real estate section of your local newspaper, but be prepared to pay a hefty sum for the ad and also be prepared for unsolicited calls from real estate agents. Newspaper ads work, but it’s better to use free or more direct methods like direct mail.
3. Another strategy is to contact commercial real estate owners directly. This can be done in several ways. Owners of multi-family homes can be located by researching the tax records of a metropolitan area. Typically, the owner of the record will be listed along with their contact information. The next step is to write a letter that explains who you are and what you are trying to accomplish. The purpose of the letter is to get in touch with many interested apartment building owners. You must leave your phone number, mailing address, and email address for sellers to contact you. You should make it very easy for sellers to contact you. Remember, you’ll need to look at dozens of offers and sellers before you find the one that fits your investment criteria. You can also contact the owners directly by phone. Keep in mind that multi-family homeowners are usually very busy, so you may want to write a script or have talking points written down so you can get right to the point and get your message across accurately.