When it comes to inspecting an apartment property before purchase, there is one simple rule that you absolutely must follow, or it could end up costing you thousands of dollars. I will get to this rule in just a moment, but let's take a quick moment to cover WHEN you should get a property professionally inspected.

There are a lot of moving parts when buying an apartment property. Whether or not you get a professional inspection depends a lot on:

A. The condition of the property, and
B. Your experience in the apartment business

That being said, here is WHEN I recommend hiring a professional property inspector:

1. If it is your first purchase and you are new to the apartment business.
2. Likewise if you are moving up to a much larger apartment property, hiring a pro is a good idea.
3. If you are purchasing outside your area, most definitely hire a professional to go over things.
4. Finally, if you are the type of person that will not sleep at night until you get your property inspected, then get it done.

Whether to hire a professional inspector, or you do the inspection yourself, there is one rule you MUST follow during the inspection.

While you are inspecting the property make sure that you look at EVERY unit. Many apartment owners make the mistake of NOT looking at every unit.

Story..

I worked with a group of investors that purchased a 300 unit property. As you can imagine, the inspection would take a long time to complete. As these guys were ripping through the units, probably had about 200 done, they talked about not looking at the other units since all seemed to be in order.

Reluctantly, after much conversation, they decided to go through the other units. The result?

They found 4 units that had flood damage from 4 years ago! The units had not been repaired or rented for over four years. Let's just say that this required quite a bit of work, labor, and of course, money to get things right.

But...What if they would not have gone through those units? They would have had a nasty surprise!!

Make sure you DO go through all of the units during the property inspection on your next purchase. You may spend some extra time, but will be well worth the effort.