Lets talk about Grant Cardone and why I don’t buy 16+ unit properties

Lets talk about Grant Cardone and why I don’t buy 16+ unit properties

I’m often asked why I’m not investing in 16+ unit multi-family properties like Grant Cardone highly recommends. While I have nothing but massive respect for him, and while don’t disagree with him or anything he says, this is why I haven’t yet ventured into 16+ unit properties and instead, why I’ve been investing in 1-4 unit buildings around Southern California. Enjoy! Add me on Snapchat / Instagram: GPStephan Disclosure - I’m an avid subscriber of Grant Cardone and really appreciate what he puts out there. In real estate, there are a million ways to invest - it’s certainly not a one-size-fits-all approach. While you can’t argue with his success, and while I don’t disagree with him at all, these are my perspectives and points of view for the location and market where I’m investing. Every single market is different and requires a more tailored technique depending on your cash flow goals, long term outlook, and area. What Grant does is extremely effective, and I have nothing but respect for him, although my preference so far - given my price range, location, and selection of deals - has led me to 1-4 unit properties. What Grant says (summed up to a few basic points): 1. Buy minimum of 16 units. The more units you have, the more tenants you have paying you, which spreads out your risk of losing rent during vacancy. 2. Economy of scale helps where you have one single building to repair and service with multiple tenants. 3. With 16+ units, you can hire a manager. My thoughts: 1. It’s absolutely true that having more units reduces your risk of losing 100% of your rent, as you would if you had a single tenant paying you 100% of your rent. However, from what I’ve found, vacancy rates are about the same between 16+ units and less than 4 units. It’s difficult to estimate vacancy rates as it entirely depends on the location - and can vary wildly - but between two places in a similar location, they should each have about the same vacancy rate. So while I absolutely agree with him that it spreads out your risk, you should experience about the same amount of vanancy between both 2-4 units and 16+ units. 2. Economy of scale is another valid point. However, keep in mind that with 16 units, you have 16 kitchens, 16 toilets, 16 things to break. The cost to fix one toilet for a tenant paying $450 per month is the same as it is to fix one toilet for a tenant paying $4500 per month. Having one building can be a LOT simpler to manage from the perspective of having one single location, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’ll be less work than a high paying 2-4 unit place. 3. Hiring a manager is vital for something with that many units. This should be factored in your expenses and anticipated rate of return. I self manage my 1-4 unit properties and it doesn’t take more than a few hours per month, fairly manageable. This would be much more if I were to manage a 16+ unit place on my own. For Grant, I totally understand why he prefers larger deals - when your dealing with $10m+ buildings, the rents you get on a few units for $10m rarely ever makes sense…. it doesn’t make sense to buy 50 houses to rent out. That would be a huge hassle. In the larger deals of 5 million dollars or more, having one asset vs a dozen houses makes life a lot easier. The thing that I’ve discovered is that it all comes down to your return. It’s just money. It’s what will make you the most money for your investment. And generally speaking, they all tend to average about the same. You can increase these returns by buying something that needs work, renovating, and re-renting it out with higher returns - but you can also do the same with smaller multi family or apartments, it’s all the same. For me, I’ve focused on houses and under-4 unit buildings because they’ve generated the highest returns from where I’ve looked in my location. And because I’m not buying $5,000,000+ places in LA, the under-4 units make the most sense. To sum things up, I don’t disagree with Grant but real estate is so location dependent that one technique isn’t necessarily better than another. It’s highly personalized and at the end of the day, I go with what brings me the highest returns for where I want to invest. It all comes down to personal preference and where you get the best value. Thanks again for watching! For business inquiries, you can reach me at GrahamStephanBusiness@gmail.com Suggested reading: The Millionaire Real Estate Agent: http://goo.gl/TPTSVC Your money or your life: https://goo.gl/fmlaJR The Millionaire Real Estate Investor: https://goo.gl/sV9xtl How to Win Friends and Influence People: https://goo.gl/1f3Meq Think and grow rich: https://goo.gl/SSKlyu Awaken the giant within: https://goo.gl/niIAEI The Book on Rental Property Investing: https://goo.gl/qtJqFq
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