As you build your real estate developer chops, you’re probably looking for ways to expand your portfolio and maximize your investment. Multi-family homes are a fantastic enterprise for any property developer, no matter your experience level.

There are many multi-family home plans that you can consider for your latest investment, including:

Duplexes
Fourplexes
Townhomes
Apartments
And more!

And if you see an opportunity somewhere to build a new multi-family house, you can work with an experienced commercial general contractor to make it happen.

1) Side-by-Side Duplex

You have options when it comes to one of the most popular types of multi-family house plans: duplexes. Duplexes are found everywhere— from small towns to big cities and everywhere in between.

A duplex is a multi-family property that has two units with separate entrances in the same building. The units always share a common wall, but the layouts can vary.

In areas with more space, side-by-side duplexes are popular. In this floor plan, duplexes can look like two separate homes attached with one wall, or they may look more like a single-family home with two front doors.

2) Stacked Duplex

Perhaps an even more popular multi-family home plan is the stacked duplex. This is still a type of multi-family housing where two residences reside within one property. But in this case, the residences are stacked one on top of the other rather than side-to-side.

This type of duplex is common in crowded cities where buildings and houses are planned much closer to each other than in the suburbs or smaller cities.

The upper and lower units can have the exact same floor plans, or they can be different per your design. You may opt to plan for this multi-family house to have two front doors or one front door that leads to an entryway with separate entrances for each unit.

3) Fourplexes

Fourplexes (or quadplexes) are multi-family homes with, you guessed it, four separate living units. Fourplexes are a hot commodity among real estate investors because they have a relatively low entry price and the opportunity for high cash flow if the units are rented out.

In a quadplex, each residence has its own:

Entrance 🚪
Kitchen 🍽️
Bathroom(s) 🚽
Living space 🛋️
Bedroom(s) 🛏️

Although, there is often a common entryway to the building before each unit splits off. House plans for fourplexes are usually one of two layouts: stacked or side-by-side.

Stacked: Stacked quadplexes are more common. You can often recognize them by their flat roofs and rectangular shape. Two units are situated on the main floor, with the other two built on top.
Side-by-Side: You can also build side-by-side fourplexes, although these are less common and can fall into the “townhome” category that we’ll touch on next. In this layout, four homes are constructed next to each other, and they all share a conjoining wall.

In the same vein, you can also purchase or build tri-plexes, five-plexes, six-plexes, and so on and so forth.

💡 Fun Fact: The suffix “-plex” means “having parts or units” in Latin. That’s why you see so many terms ending with “-plex” when referring to multi-family housing!

4) Townhomes

Townhomes, or townhouses, could also be side-by-side fourplexes or five-plexes. With this layout, single-family homes share a wall with another house. Usually, there are four or five townhouses in a row (so you may also see these referred to as “row houses”).

The difference here comes down to ownership. While it’s common for a fourplex to be owned by a real estate investor and rented out to tenants, townhouses are individually owned.

So if people own townhomes rather than renting them, how would you make money as a developer? That’s where HOAs (Homeowners Associations) come in. Most townhomes exist in an HOA, and the homeowners must pay a monthly membership fee.

This fee covers the maintenance of shared spaces, such as mowing the lawn and shoveling snow. You can choose to run your own HOA, or you can simply make a return on your investment by selling each townhome for more than you paid to construct it.

5) Mixed-Use Apartment Buildings

One of the most creative multi-family house plans is the mixed-use layout. In mixed-use apartment buildings, there are at least two stories, but there’s really no limit on how many stories you can build.

These buildings serve multiple purposes beyond residential housing. The most common layout is a vertical mixed-use property, which features apartments on the top floors. The bottom floors can be a range of many enterprises, including:

Retail shops
Grocery stores
Office spaces
Public parking
Restaurants
Classrooms

6) High-Rise Condominiums and Apartments

Lastly, on our list of house plans, we have high-rises. High-rise condominiums and apartments are ever-popular in bigger cities, although in modern days, you’ll still find them sprouting up in suburbs and smaller cities.

Even though these buildings seem very modern, they actually had their origin in ancient Rome, where many buildings had 10+ stories!

Typically, any building more than 75 feet tall can be considered a high-rise. High-rise apartments can have ten stories or one hundred and ten stories, depending on how they’re constructed.

With so many apartments and condominium units inside one high-rise building, you can really maximize your investment if all the units get rented out (or purchased, in the case of condos).

High-rise multi-family properties can also be built for specific renter demographics, such as:

Student housing
Retirement communities
Low-income housing

Don’t Wait Any Longer to Build Your Dream Multi-Family Property

There are clearly many different kinds of multi-family home plans that you can explore. Any one of these house plans can be fruitful for you as a real estate developer. The only thing missing is your construction partner that will bring your vision to life.

Here at APX Construction Group, we have a breadth of experience building multi-family properties of all shapes and sizes. Whether you want to build a row of townhouses or a high-rise mixed-use building, we can handle the design and build capabilities you need.Reach out to APX today for a free consultation!