New BiggerPockets Article: Doing Due Diligence on a 74-Unit Apartment Complex

My latest article for BiggerPockets is up and it is, again on due diligence. This time I focus on the due diligence we performed on a 74-unit apartment we had a contract. After performing due diligence we found that there were all sorts of problems such as recalled electrical panels, deferred maintenance, higher vacancy and one less unit. So in the end, we decided,

This deal wasn’t for us and would have really set us back if we had gone ahead with it. We would have either struggled to make the property work and potentially been bogged down by it or failed to close for lack of financing. (That mistake would have cost us the Phase One money and perhaps our earnest money deposit.)

And remember, this is all based on our due diligence process, which I discussed at length in "The Ultimate Guide to Due Diligence." And of course, we went through our checklist, which looks like this:

1. Pre-Offer Due Diligence
   1. Area Analysis
   2. Value and Financial Estimate
   3. Rehab Estimate
2. Post-Acceptance Due Diligence
   1. Physical Due Diligence
   2. Financial Due Diligence
   3. Legal Due Diligence
   4. Inspections
3. Retrading (if necessary)
4. Final Decision and Walking Away (if necessary)

​If you're interested in real estate due diligence, you should definitely check out both articles.