A Message of Encouragement for Tired and Retiring Landlords

Over the years, your entrepreneurial spirit and personal motivation have driven you to create an impressive and very lucrative real estate portfolio. At some point, though, you may decide it’s time to step away and sell some or all of it.

Understandably, many landlords become fed up with continuously fixing what their tenants have destroyed. On the other hand, they may want to sell in order to support their dream of traveling the world. Maybe a health emergency or other life event creates a need for cash, and properties have to be sold. If those things resonate with you at all, keep reading.

My message for you is this:  don’t settle for the first wholesaler or individual investor who sends you a letter in the mail; hire an agent to develop a comprehensive strategy to sell it for you; and, focus on maximizing your net proceeds from the sale. In order to get the most money possible at closing, we have to do three key things:

1)    Make smart improvements that will increase the property’s marketability and profitability. If you don’t have the funds to make significant updates, that’s fine. You just have to understand what it means in terms of expected sale price if no changes are made. Thankfully, there are lots of ways you can increase the likelihood of a successful sale with very little out-of-pocket costs.

2)    Price it correctly. You can’t rely on comparable sales data alone to set the listing price, especially if the property will require substantial renovation work. Knowing the nature of the prospective buyer pool and the costs associated with needed repairs are critical for establishing the right asking price.

3)    Create urgency and maximize exposure to qualified and interested buyers, especially in the pre-listing/coming soon phase. You want to receive the best and highest offers from as many willing and able buyers as possible, and you want that to happen very quickly. What you don’t want is the best, lowball offer from one investor who happens to randomly call you.

If the property in question has significant deferred maintenance and is in disrepair, selling ‘as-is’ could be the right decision. Ideally, you make some repairs and renovate the home to capture more proceeds from the sale. In any case, you need an expert on your team to advise you on what is and what isn’t a worthwhile update. And, you need someone who is capable of developing and implementing a highly effective sales strategy.

This type of sale involves as much art as it does science. With years of experience working with investors and selling properties like this, I’d love to help you to both achieve your goals and close this chapter with confidence.