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Several weeks later I had opportunity to speak with my landlord's father, owner of property my wife and I were currently living in. While enquiring about his investment property business, I learned a little about multi family investment property financing. According to him, most lenders will only provide financing for multi family dwellings of five units or more, with a minimum loan amount of $500,000. Apparently it isn't worth a lender's time to finance smaller investments.
Most multi family or apartment loans have a thirty-year term with interest rates ranging from 4.7% to 6.625% for loans up to $3 million. I learned that most of time these "smaller loans" carry a little higher interest than loans exceeding $3 million and are termed as 'recourse' loans; in other words, if you default on loan lender may take 'recourse' by seizing your private assets. Loans in excess of $3 million are termed as 'non-recourse', meaning private assets are protected in event of a borrower default. In addition, most lenders offer basic options like fixed and adjustable rate loans.
In final analysis, key to success of this family in multi family investment property market wasn't way they quickly handled tenant complaints or provided decent amenities; these things merely kept them in business. The reason for their success was a thorough understanding of investment property financing gained from years of research, experience, and trial and error.