Should You Go For A Multi-Family Property?

Posted on: 22 August 2017

When you are looking to buy a home, you may find a great house that is for sale and also has other units on the property that you would end up owning. This may be the perfect situation for you, or it may be something that you would be best walking away from. If you are going back and forth with whether or not you should purchase a multi-family property then here are some of the things you may want to go over about it:

The positives of a multi-family property

You have places for family to stay: If you have a large family and sometimes there is a need for some of them to stay with other family members, then you would be able to help when needed. You could put up family members in one of the units so no one has to be smashed in one house trying to get along with two or even more family units under the same roof.

You can rent out a unit if you choose to: If you don't mind having renters on your property and you could use the extra money, then you would be able to rent out one of the units. You could rent it out to a long-term renter, or you could decide to rent it out for short term, or even as a vacation rental depending on where you live.

You have a place for guests who visit: You can use a unit on your property as a guest house for times when guests come to visit for a few days, or even longer. This gives you the ability to visit all you want, but also give them their privacy for sleeping, showering, etc.

You can convert a unit into your own private place: You can even choose to convert one of the units into a special place for yourself, such as a workshop, an art studio, a reading room or anything else you would like to use it for.

The negatives of a multi-family property

You have more upkeep: If you don't really have a special use for the extra unit, or units, that are on the property then you will only end up with extra upkeep that brings you no rewards. If you don't keep up with it then it will only fall apart eventually and become an eyesore or a hazard.

You may pay more in utilities: If the units are all powered together, then you may end up paying more for your utilities. However, there are some things you can do to limit those expenses. You can shut off the fuses to those units for anything that you don't need on so extra power doesn't get wasted.

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