meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast

Single-Family vs. Multifamily Rentals: Which Is the Best First Rental?

BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast

BiggerPockets

Education, Investing, Business

4.816.6K Ratings

🗓️ 18 February 2026

⏱️ 36 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Single-family vs. multifamily rental properties—which gets you to financial freedom faster? A rookie real estate investor is wondering what he should do for his first rental property. Multifamily rentals can help you scale faster and have more cash flow, but single-family rentals mean fewer tenants (and fewer headaches) with less management. Dave and Henry have invested in both and have a clear answer for which is the winner. We’re back answering your questions from the BiggerPockets Forums. First, single-family vs. multifamily—if you’re starting in real estate right now, there’s one clear choice. Next, a young landlord just inherited a tenant who’s paying 50% below-market rent. Should he raise the rent and risk losing a 12-year tenant, or follow a much more “reasonable” strategy to get them to stay and pay a fairer price? BRRRRing vs. house-flipping: let’s say you have $100,000 ready to invest, which option gives you a higher return? BRRRRing (buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat) means you’ll have a long-term rental after the rehab, but is a flip worth it for the instant payout? And finally, we do the thing you never expected BiggerPockets to do…we tell someone not to house hack (but here’s why). In This Episode We Cover Single-family vs. multifamily rentals, and which Dave and Henry would almost always prefer  BRRRRing vs. flipping houses: which is lower risk in today’s housing market? Who should not house hack, and what you should do instead with your money Raising rents on inherited tenants: the “stair-step” strategy that Henry uses  And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-1241 Interested in learning more about today’s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertise@biggerpockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Should your next investment be a single-family home or a multifamily property?

0:04.8

It's a critical question.

0:06.3

You want to scale a portfolio and progress toward financial freedom as quickly as possible,

0:10.6

but taking on the wrong type of property could leave you overwhelmed and slow down your progress in the long run.

0:16.3

The good news, this choice does not need to leave you paralyzed.

0:19.8

Today we're sharing a simple framework to help you pick the right type of property for

0:23.9

you.

0:24.9

The answer isn't the same for everyone, but by the end of this episode, you'll know how to

0:28.9

think through big decisions of whether single-family or multi-family is right for your

0:33.5

experience level, financial situation, or investing strategy. Plus, we'll tackle how to

0:38.8

balance getting your rents close to fair market value without forcing unnecessary tenant

0:43.5

turnovers where the new investors should take on burs or flips and so much more.

0:53.2

What's up, friends? I'm Henry Washington here, the co-host of the Bigger Pockets podcast,

0:57.5

and I am here along with Dave Meyer. Dave, you're looking a little bundled.

1:04.2

Are you wondering why I'm dressed like Macklemore right now?

1:09.0

Is there something going on at the thrift shop we need to know about?

1:12.8

My heat went out two days ago over the weekend on Saturday morning.

1:16.4

I woke up at my house 40 degrees.

1:18.7

And they actually just left my house and fixed the furnace, but it's still freezing in here.

1:23.6

It's like literally 42 degrees.

1:26.1

But the show's got to go on, man.

1:27.5

So I'm just here dressed in full winter gear. Well, today we're giving people what they want. We're answering questions. You, the audience, asked us on the Bigger Pockets forums. So let's jump into it. The first question is from an investor named Christopher. And he said, I'm a new investor based in California looking to start my portfolio out of state. My target is the $80,000 to

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BiggerPockets, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BiggerPockets and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.