My husband and I have purchased 12-plexes with no money down and although it can be a challenge, we had postitive cash flows. Of course it depends on the condition of the building, the location, and the deal made with the previous owner. Any given property can goe either way depending on how you finance it. You just have to be smart about it.
In my search for information on apartment building investing, I found a manual called, “How To Buy The Big Ones With No Money Down.” Is anyone familiar with this book? The author is Brian Abruzzi at brianabruzzi.com.
I read the guy’s bio. If you accurately lay out the budget for one of these complexes (there’s some decent cash flow software out there), you will find that nothing down will yield a negative income. You can fool these tools using over the market rents, unrealistic vacancy levels, not keeping reserves for major repairs (roof, parking, painting the exterior, etc.), making the interest rates unreasonably low and so on. BUT if you input real data based on what lenders offer you, allocate major repair reserves, the rents neighboring complexes are actually getting (not asking rents for vacant units), and so on, you will find that at 20% down, the cash flow is not really huge. Oh, and don’t forget turnover expenses and vacancy loss.
I owned a 24-unit building for a little over 2 years that produced a positive cash flow (between $80-$100 per unit per month). And, I purchased it with no money down. I worked a deal with the previsous owner for a favorable purchase money mortgage, plus I raised the rents “slightly.” Do to the conditions of the PMM, I would have had to refi in 3 years had I not sold it. In addition, I made $75k on the sale. So, I guess it depends on the property, it’s location, and the manner in which one finances the down payment.