The all an one place about buying a duplex or a triplex is here. Do you  already own a duplex or small income property, then I'm sure you will find the information in this site, well worth your time.

Check out our pages on creating a wealth plan or how to increase the value of a current property within the next 30 days by as much as 5-10%

OK, let's get started.   First of all, the biggest advantage in small residential income properties (duplexes, Triplexes and Fourplexes) or investing in multi-family units is the most obvious reason: the monthly cost if any units are vacant to the owner/investor. Let’s use the following example:

Owner "A" has a Single Family home with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, that rents for $1500 with mortgage of $1700 per month. A slight negative, but one that the owner is able to afford each month. Now the property goes vacant for one month. Thus, Owner "A" must now come up with $1700 out of his own pocket to make the mortgage payment. Ouch.

Whereas, Owner "B" has a duplex, each unit has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths that’s rents for $1300 each unit ($1300 + $1300 = $2600) with a monthly mortgage amount of $2000. If one unit goes vacant for one month, Owner "B’ still receives $1300 from the occupied unit and now must come up with only $700 to make his monthly mortgage payment. A MUCH Smaller problem than what Owner "A" has to deal with. Plus, if you noticed, Owner "B" also had a monthly positive cash flow!

Both of these properties are real life examples; located in California and show why investing in a Duplex, Triplex or Fourplex is a MUCH BETTER way to go in creating wealth though Real Estate investing, along with good real estate education. I’m sure you can find similar examples wherever you may live, whether its California, Kansas, New York or Delaware. The numbers may change, but the finally results will be the same.

So why put your money in one residential unit like a single family dwelling if your an investor, when you can spread the risk among 4 units like in a fourplex and create a better CASH FLOW for yourself and create future wealth.

Anyway, that is just one reason why investing in multi-family units (duplex, triplex or fourplex) is a faster way to Real Estate wealth then simply buying a single family home.

The Cost Per Unit  Typically here in the California market (San Francisco Bay Area), on average a single family home in the Bay area goes for about $450,000 (2008 values - after the bubble). A nice duplex will go for $600,000 (depending on what city it is located in), like wise a triplex for $825,000 and a fourplex around $950,000. Like I said, it depends on which city within the Bay Area, but on average these are fairly reasonable values as an "average"

So once again, let’s see now, That’s $450,000 for I unit single family home, OR $315,00 per unit for the duplex, $275,00 per unit for the triplex and only $243,750 per unit for the fourplex, using the above "average" prices.

Yes, the monthly mortgage will be higher for the fourplex then the single family dwelling, BUT you will have FOUR FAMILIES paying you rent towards that mortgage payment. The "Per Unit Mortgage" amount is less with the fourplex and the opportunity in collecting rents to cover the monthly mortgage is much greater then the single family dwelling.

Owner verses an Investor As an owner/buyer of a duplex, triplex or even a fourplex who lives in one of the units, you have many advantages over the ownership of a single family home. For example if you buy a duplex. Banks like to loan on owner occupied duplexes because they know that part of the mortgage payment will be coming from the other unit (the rental unit) and part from the owner (owner occupied unit) thus reducing the amount that the owner would need each month.

Also, you can write off some or large portions of your repairs. Like for example if you installed a new roof on a owner occupied home, the homeowner gets NO immediate TAX benefits (the benefit kicks in at time of selling as an "adjustment to the cost basis" of the home). Whereas, the owner occupied duplex can write 1/2 of the roof installation on his/her taxes that year.

With a 20% down on a duplex you may still have a small negative cash flow (some areas with 20% down you can have positive cash flow) but the time it takes to go from a negative to positive cash flow is much shorter then the time it will take you with a single family home.