Today we are reviewing Larry Loftis, Esq.’s book “Investing in Duplexes, Triplexes & Quads – The Fastest and Safest Way to Real Estate Wealth.”

As the title says, this is about small (4 or less units) multifamily real estate investments. While TheMonopolyProject is all about single family homes (SFH); we’re reviewing this book because this is the path we took. Previously we told the very beginning of our story buying our first SFH in 1999. The next year we bought two more. But starting in 2001 we started buying triplexes. By the beginning of 2005 we had bought 7 properties besides the 3 SFHs. In early 2005 we traded the 7 properties via a 1031 exchange for a 76 unit apartment complex.

The video book review for TheMonopolyProject’s “Floating Book Reviews” is held on TheMonopolyProject yacht:

There are several advantages in buying duplexes/triplexes/fourplexes over SFHs:

  1. You can buy duplexes, triplexes or fourplexes with conventional SFH financing. This allows lower interest rates and lowers down payments. If the property is owner-occupied down payments can be 10%, 5%, 3% or ‘no down’.
  2. Plexes are easier to manage since the units are in one location.
  3. You can learn the basics of multifamily property management. Multifamily properties attract a different clientele than SFHs. While it is possible to build an SFH “empire”, eventually most people go into multifamily investments as the next step in the real estate wealth path.
  4. Another key advantage of plexes is that they are sold on the investment value (return); not on the ‘curb appeal’. People will pay a premium above investment value for a home they really want to live in. This is the main reason we started buying plexes in 2001 after buying 3 SFHs.

The late Larry Loftis, Esq wrote this book in 2006 based on his experience buying properties in Florida. The book is a bit dated being written before the Great Recession. On the positive side, the information is good without any of the typical real estate book hokum such as “be sure to buy at a 20% discount from market value”. But I wouldn’t recommend buying the book because so much good information on this topic is now available on the web for free.

Is buying duplexes, triplexes or fourplexes “The Fastest and Safest Way to Real Estate Wealth”? Maybe. It does bridge the gap between SFH and large apartment complexes; both in the price sense and experience. We’ll review another more recent book, “The House Hacking Strategy: How to Use Your Home to Achieve Financial Feedom” on this strategy next.

Proverbs 13:11 “Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.”

“Seven is the number of completeness and perfection (both physical and spiritual).”