Locating High-Performance Apartment Complex Investments
It is no secret or surprise today that apartment complexes are leading and highly lucrative investments for anyone with a keen interest in buying commercial real estate. In fact, even during the ups and down of the current market, these large multifamily properties continue to offer greater ROI than other asset classes.
In urban hubs, especially, many people seek and continue to live in apartment rentals. Occupancy rates are typically high, making these buildings solid investments over time. Yet not all apartment complexes perform equally as property investments.
In order to build and hold a profitable portfolio of large multifamily complexes, you need to invest in the right area at the right time for the right amount of capital to gain optimal high financial returns. Achieving this goal may sound somewhat difficult and daunting at first.
However, many investors are elated when they discover that locating lucrative apartment complexes for sale is now easier than ever before. Using the innovative off-market tools and constantly updated sales listings that are available today, you can find the leading profitable investment properties of this type that are currently available.
Locate Off-Market Investments with Property Intelligence
Rather than getting started with searches for lucrative apartment complexes on the myriad online property listings platforms, look for attractive off-market properties first. These building complexes are not for sale at the current time, nor are they listed on the MLS.
Finding quality investment assets among these off-market properties can be an ideal way to locate reasonably priced properties. You can also avoid heavy competition from other buyers. In addition, you can usually avoid high broker’s fees.
You can also find a greater number of potential investment properties in off-market searches than in on-market searches. Using property intelligence technology, you can quickly and easily determine whether a specific property has high sales potential.
Using Reonomy to Find Off-Market Apartment Properties
By using Reonomy property intelligence, you can zoom in on the country’s complete stock of available multifamily complexes. Using the sophisticated filtering tools provided, you can locate properties that align with your investing requirements with just a few clicks.
These tools can identify apartment complexes according to age, size and style, displaying only properties with specified debt and sales records. When you locate buildings that interest you, you can contact the owners or management using the data provided.
Using On-Market Web Listings to Find Apartment Complexes
If you want to search for apartment complexes that are currently for sale, there are a vast number of online options of current market listings platforms. Starting with the general search term of “multifamily properties,” you can then narrow your search using filters like price, building size, number of units and others.
The website of ApartmentBuildings.com is a good starting point for your on-market search for investment properties. Some of the top-rated multifamily property listings platforms include LoopNet, Showcase, Ten-X, CREXi, Point2Homes, Trulia, CityFeet and Realtor.com. Many real estate investors consider LoopNet to be the standard-setting platform when searching for any type of commercial property that is currently for sale.
Examining Popular Platforms Listing Apartment Complex Investments
By spending some time on each of these property-listing platforms, you can decide which ones are best suited to your searching criteria and needs:
- LoopNet. As the gold standard for locating virtually any type of commercial property that is currently offered for sale, LoopNet displays approximately 500,000 property listings. There are plenty of multifamily buildings for sale on this web-based platform.
To date, LoopNet provides the largest online property listing database available. This platform includes a variety of filters that make it easy to narrow your property search as needed.
- Showcase. This platform displays on-market commercial real estate listings, including office, retail, multifamily, industrial, land and other property types that are for sale. When using this platform, you can begin by searching multifamily properties. Then indicate your preference for buying or leasing this real estate.
You can add more factors to your property search, such as the square footage and the rental rate per square foot. Showcase is now available for use across the U.S. and in the U.K. This platform is owned by a major industry player, CoStar.
- Ten-X. This digital commercial property marketplace is for use by buyers, sellers and brokers. It currently takes credit for facilitating over 90 percent of online commercial real estate sales. The platform provides the latest data-powered technology and sophisticated marketing tools.
Once you are on the platform, begin your search with the term “multifamily properties.” Then narrow the criteria with the use of multiple filters. Properties for sale that are displayed on Ten-X include apartment complexes from all areas of the U.S.
- ApartmentBuildings.com. This website content consists of apartment building and land listings. The platform is designed for use by both real estate buyers and sellers. It offers property listings in the largest U.S. markets of New York, California, Florida, Texas and Arizona. By selecting the search terms of “multifamily” or “land,” you can get started.
The website allows you to utilize location filters and other factors to narrow your search, including price range, size of building, lot size, units count and customized search terms. This website enables you to search for large apartment complexes that are distressed properties or being offered for sale at auction.
- CREXi. This platform provides listings for upwards of a dozen commercial real estate (CRE) asset classes, one of which is multifamily properties. Although a large variety of search results will be returned for the term “multifamily properties,” the real advantage of using this platform is its very generous number of search filters.
These filters include property details (price, square footage, lot size), unit size, listing timeline, lease type and tenancy (vacant, single, multi).
- Point2Homes. To perform a property search using this platform, begin by entering a city, state or zip code. Afterward, you can select additional filters, such as price, property type, building square footage, year built and others. You can also include the multifamily filter in your search.
Point2Homes has property listings from all areas of the U.S. plus some global markets. This platform also provides advertising capabilities for property buyers and sellers and tools for locating real estate agents.
- Trulia. This platform gains praise for its user-friendly design. It is essentially a property listings site for home buyers and sellers as well as renters. Trulia is also a platform used by many real estate agents and investors. Properties that are displayed on the platform include apartment complexes for sale.
- CityFeet. This site’s platform is focused mainly on New York commercial property listings with some other U.S. listings included, and CityFeet is owned by LoopNet. The listings offer real estate properties for sale and for leasing. To locate apartment complexes for sale, search multifamily properties, adding price, building size, tenancy and other filters.
- Realtor.com. This platform for real estate listings is designed for use by homeowners, buyers, sellers and renters. It can also be useful to homeowners who are refinancing a mortgage. To locate apartment buildings for sale, use the multifamily property filter and other filters that can narrow your search.
Along with property listings, this site offers the latest mortgage and refinancing rates via sites such as Quicken Loans. The Realtor.com site also offers search capability to locate realtors and agents nationwide, with a strong focus on New York City.
Finding Apartment Complexes for Sale with Real Estate Syndication
Unless you are a member of a successful commercial real estate investing (REI) partnership, you may not have the personal or business resources to buy an apartment complex on your own. However, this does not prevent you from investing in large multifamily properties and building a highly profitable portfolio of investment assets.
By joining a reputable and respected real estate syndicate as a passive investor, you can enjoy periodic payouts and dividends from investing a limited amount of capital. You and the other passive investors in a syndication property investment project simply fund the project with the total of your combined capital. Afterward, the syndicate sponsor (general partner) manages all of the other aspects of the investment project.
Without the need to perform any further tasks, you can relax and wait to receive your payouts and dividends. At the end of the investment’s term, when the property is sold, you and each of the other passive investors (limited partners) will receive an attractive percentage of the property sale price.
You do need to perform some serious due diligence before joining an REI syndicate as a passive investor, however. Take time to research the syndicate’s history and past performance, including its recent track record for profitable investments. Once you locate a top-rated, well-run and successful syndicate offering attractive investments in apartment complexes, you will be on your own path to success. As a limited partner, you can start building a lucrative portfolio of large multifamily properties.
Concluding Thoughts
There are various ways to locate attractive apartment complexes for sale today. You can explore the online platform listings and contact building owners or brokers directly. You can also contact real estate agents in the cities or locales where you want to invest in large multifamily properties. There are also many listings to view in newspapers and in newsletters or website listings of Realtors and real estate investors.
However, if better suited to your financial resources, you can also join a reputable and successful real estate syndicate as a passive investor. This can enable you to invest a limited amount of capital and reap impressive ROI on apartment complexes as lucrative investment properties.