What Size Multifamily Do You Buy?
Two to roughly twenty units. Duplexes and fourplexes are the bread and butter, and we look at small apartment buildings above that. Mixed residential and commercial, or anything significantly larger, we will look at and tell you honestly whether we are the right buyer or whether you want a commercial broker.
How Is a Multifamily Valued Differently From a House?
Income first, comparable sales second. A single family home is priced mostly against what similar houses sold for. A multifamily property is priced on what it earns: the rents actually collected, the vacancy, and the operating costs. That is why two identical fourplexes on the same street can be worth meaningfully different amounts. One with below-market rents and long-term tenants is a different asset from one at market rents with current leases.
This cuts both ways for a seller. If your rents are well below market, a buyer values the building on what it earns now while also seeing the upside, and you may not capture all of that upside in the price. If your rents are strong and documented, that works in your favor. Either way, accurate numbers help you more than optimistic ones.
What Do You Need to See?
The rent roll
Unit by unit: what each pays, when the lease started and ends, whether rent is current, and what deposit is held. A simple spreadsheet or even a handwritten list is fine. If your records are informal, say so rather than reconstructing something polished.
The leases
Signed leases for each occupied unit, plus any addenda. Month-to-month arrangements are common in older Arizona buildings and that is not a problem.
Current occupancy
Which units are occupied, which are vacant, and whether any vacant unit is mid-turnover. Vacancy is not a disqualifier; it is just a number in the valuation.
Condition, honestly
Roof, air conditioning per unit, plumbing, electrical panels, and what has been deferred. We are going to find it anyway, and surprises late in a deal cost more time than honesty early.
Do I Need to Evict Anyone or Turn Over Units First?
No, and emptying units before a sale usually costs you money rather than making you any. Occupancy is what the building earns, and a buyer paying on income would rather inherit paying residents than empty rooms. Arizona tenancies carry over to the new owner automatically, so nothing has to be unwound first. The mechanics of an occupied sale are covered here.
What If Some Tenants Are Not Paying?
Expect us to ask, and expect it to matter to the number rather than to the answer. A unit that has not produced income in four months is valued accordingly, but it buys nobody anything for you to spend the next six weeks pursuing it. Owners frequently reach us at exactly this point. Give us the arrears by unit and we underwrite reality.
What About Deferred Maintenance Across Several Units?
That is the normal condition of the small multifamily we buy. Older Arizona buildings tend to have a cluster of items coming due at once: a flat or low-slope roof near the end of its life, individual air conditioning units of different ages and failing one by one, original galvanized or polybutylene plumbing, electrical panels that insurers no longer like, and parking surfaces breaking up. A financed buyer’s lender will flag those. We price them in rather than asking you to fix them.
Can You Buy a Property With Code or Permit Problems?
Usually yes. Unpermitted unit conversions, a garage turned into a studio, an added laundry room, or open code cases with the city come up regularly on older buildings. These complicate a conventional sale badly. We handle the municipality ourselves after closing. More on liens and code violations.
How Long Does a Multifamily Purchase Take?
Usually a little longer than a single family house, and the reason is paperwork rather than financing. We review leases and the rent roll, verify deposits, and coordinate the estoppel and transfer details with escrow. There is no lender timeline because we buy with our own funds, but there are more documents to move. We will give you a realistic date rather than an optimistic one.
Do You Buy Portfolios?
Yes, and often more easily than one building at a time. If you are exiting the rental business entirely, selling several properties on a single timeline avoids running a series of separate transactions with separate closings and separate buyers who may or may not perform. Send the whole list.
Should I Sell to You or List With a Broker?
If the building is stabilized, well maintained, and fully leased at market rents, a commercial broker will probably net you more, and we will say so. The marketing reaches a pool of investors competing for a clean asset. Where the honest picture is deferred maintenance, mixed occupancy, problem tenants, or paperwork that will not survive a lender’s review, that broker process turns into months of showings and re-trades. That is where a direct sale wins. Compare the options.
Common Questions
Do you buy buildings with vacant units?
Yes. Vacancy affects the price, not whether we buy.
What happens to the security deposits?
They move with the building at closing, and the incoming owner carries the obligation to account for them later.
Do I need an appraisal or a broker opinion first?
No. We do our own underwriting and we do not ask sellers to pay for reports before receiving an offer.
Can you buy if the property is in an LLC or a trust?
Yes. The entity sells, and whoever is authorized to sign for it signs. Bring the operating agreement or trust documents so title can confirm authority.
Where We Buy Multifamily
Across Arizona, including Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, Glendale, Chandler, Gilbert, Peoria, Surprise, Scottsdale, Maricopa, Prescott, Prescott Valley, and Tucson.
Situations we handle: Foreclosure | Inherited property | Divorce | Rental with tenants | Fire or water damage | Tax liens and violations
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