Remember when buying a single-family rental felt like printing money? Yeah, those days are deader than your crypto portfolio from 2022. Welcome to 2025, where smart real estate investors are ditching the single-family dream for something with more doors—literally.
Here’s the deal: while everyone’s been crying about doubled prices and interest rates, savvy investors have been quietly pivoting to multifamily properties. Think duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes—basically any building where multiple families can live without wanting to murder each other.
The “Triple-Headed Monster” Advantage
Dana Bull, a Massachusetts investor who clearly has a flair for dramatic metaphors, calls multifamily properties “triple-headed monsters.” Before you run screaming, hear her out—this monster is the friendly kind that pays your bills.
The three heads? Acquisition discounts, economies of scale, and cash flow that actually makes sense. When your roof needs replacing on a triplex, you’re fixing one roof for three income streams. When it snows, you’re shoveling one driveway. It’s like buying in bulk at Costco, but for real estate.
The House Hacking Hack
Here’s where it gets interesting for us mere mortals without trust funds. You can actually live in one unit while renting out the others—a strategy called “house hacking” that sounds way cooler than “being a live-in landlord.”
Take Mike Newton, who bought a $450,000 duplex in Seattle (yes, that’s considered affordable there). Instead of needing a 20% down payment like a traditional investor, he put down just 5% because he planned to live there. His tenants basically paid his mortgage while he saved for his next property. It’s like having roommates, except they can’t eat your leftovers.
The Numbers Game
Josh and Ali Lupo, who achieved financial independence faster than most people achieve inbox zero, put it bluntly: “The properties that used to make sense as long-term rentals, especially single-families, the numbers don’t really work anymore.”
Meanwhile, Connor Swofford and Pieter Louw scaled to over 20 units in Buffalo by focusing on properties with at least three units. Their secret? “The cash flow and cap rates are a lot better,” says Louw, probably while counting money.
The Reality Check
Before you start Zillow-stalking every duplex in your area, know this: not every market has abundant multifamily properties. New England is loaded with them (thanks, late 1800s urban planning), but your suburb might be all McMansions and strip malls.
No multifamily properties? Get creative. Add an ADU, convert that basement, or find a roommate who doesn’t leave dishes in the sink. The goal is simple: make other people pay your mortgage while you sleep.
In a world where traditional real estate investing feels like playing the lottery with worse odds, multifamily properties offer something rare: math that actually works. And in 2025, that’s basically a superpower.