It's about economies of scale. If you're in a 6-9 unit building... you can't employ a full-time handyman for maintenance... you're stuck using whatever contractor comes in lowest bid. That won't lead to quality in the long run. But if you have a few hundred units, you can have a maintenance staff that cares about the property (or at least their jobs)... and that keeps everything nice.
My mom own a few 4-12 unit apartments in CA. She bought them in the 90s, and charges what seems like a fortune in rent -- but after taxes, and maintenance, and all the various costs involved... she pretty much just breaks even. Her plan is to sell the buildings when she retires... and that'll be a nice windfall when that day comes.
Until then... as much as I hate to say it about my own mother, she's basically a slum lord. She does only the bare minimum to fix anything when it breaks, and drags her feet for tenants who complain too much in hopes they just move out. She has to manage the properties herself... deal with tenants who are late on rent, deal with all the hassles because if she hires someone it puts her into the red. We've had long discussions about it... the profit isn't there to justify spending more. She'll do the basics... whatever is legally required of her... past that she has no incentive to spend money on the properties.
Anyway I know there can be nice small multifamily structures, but in many places I think the landlords hit the scale issue. They don't make enough off the properties to hire better property management, or keep things as nice as the apartments that have hundreds of units. Maybe a brand new 6-9 unit building would be OK, but one that's 30-50 years old... it's going to have a lot of issues or sky-high rent -- or both.
My mom own a few 4-12 unit apartments in CA. She bought them in the 90s, and charges what seems like a fortune in rent -- but after taxes, and maintenance, and all the various costs involved... she pretty much just breaks even. Her plan is to sell the buildings when she retires... and that'll be a nice windfall when that day comes.
Until then... as much as I hate to say it about my own mother, she's basically a slum lord. She does only the bare minimum to fix anything when it breaks, and drags her feet for tenants who complain too much in hopes they just move out. She has to manage the properties herself... deal with tenants who are late on rent, deal with all the hassles because if she hires someone it puts her into the red. We've had long discussions about it... the profit isn't there to justify spending more. She'll do the basics... whatever is legally required of her... past that she has no incentive to spend money on the properties.
Anyway I know there can be nice small multifamily structures, but in many places I think the landlords hit the scale issue. They don't make enough off the properties to hire better property management, or keep things as nice as the apartments that have hundreds of units. Maybe a brand new 6-9 unit building would be OK, but one that's 30-50 years old... it's going to have a lot of issues or sky-high rent -- or both.