When choosing to invest in real estate, you could wonder which choice is appropriate between apartment buildings and single-family homes. Each of these types of properties has their passionate advocates. This means that they both have advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages of Investing in Apartment Buildings
Considering scale, investing in apartment buildings can help one to make some big leaps. Multifamily property family investment could add say 10, 20 or 100 + units to the portfolio of the investor. Investing in apartment buildings is much more efficient as much less time and energy is required to acquire 60 units in an apartment building than acquiring the same amount of units in single-family homes. There is good ROI with multifamily property investing. With one of its benefits being the economy of scale, it means you can do more for less. Some of the benefits of apartment building investment include lower cost per door, effective and profitable management type, and any improvements implemented could increase the value of more than one unit.
Insurance for apartment complexes is there to protect apartment buildings from property and liability risks. This insurance also covers other structures like garages, office space, fences, common areas, swimming pools and storage buildings. There is more income in apartment buildings than in single-family homes investments. Apartment building investments also change lives as they provide good residential places and jobs to many staff members within the properties and also vendors.
Disadvantages of Investing in Apartment Buildings
Apartment buildings could be stricter in financing when compared to single-family homes. A larger percentage is needed to fund the deal and while interest rates are higher and term usually shorter. There is a higher level of risk tolerance in apartment building investments and more at stake as the risk is not spread out.
Advantages of Investing in Single Family Homes
It is cheaper than apartment buildings and has better financing options. Single Family Residences are eligible for more favourable financing. Investors in SFRs enjoy much greater inventory choices as they have the potential to offer better deals and also perform more transactions. There are multiple exit strategies in single-family homes investments. They have much larger resale pools and more end buyers as compared to apartment buildings. It is easier to get started with single-family home investments than with apartment buildings.
Disadvantages of Investing in Single Family Homes
The management of property in SFRs is spread out widely and thus maintenance work is more challenging. The cost of maintenance of SFRs is higher as compared to that of apartment buildings, and it also lacks the cost-sharing features that are associated with apartment buildings which include roof repairs, shared walls and plumbing.
I would say that there are more benefits in apartment building investments than in Single family homes investments. This is so since there is more revenue collected from apartment building investments than in SFRs. Maintenances in apartment buildings are much easier than in SFRs because it is not spread out as in SFRs. However, there is more at stake in apartment building investments as the risk is not spread out.