What is the best way to sell an income property ?

I’ve owned a duplex in a college town for almost 30 years .

I’m sorry,

I guess I’m asking should I try to sell by my self or use a realtor ?

I bought and sold houses in the past without a realtor.

Do the "math" first. Ownership for 30 years, you have no mortgage left. So you "could" sell and carry back the first mortgage at 8%. But if you've never done that, you'll need to educate yourself. Insurance, Pre-payment penalties, etc.

Also take a look at your tax gain. Long term federal, state, recapture on the depreciation.

Please read: I had a buddy that owned a tool company. He had an investment house that he traded up to a duplex. Both rentals, he never lived in those properties. Had another house with his trophy wife.

We decided to sell the Duplex and the leave his tool company to his adult son. His Tax expert said his taxes would only be around $20,000. Being in real estate for 40+ years with dozens of rentals, I told him otherwise. I only have a Finance Degree, among other things.

I told him that I would pay for a consultation with a Real Estate Tax Expert, not a clown. His current tax person said he was a CPA, he was not.

So I estimated that 19 years ownership of the house, then uptick to the duplex, from a basis of $140,000 to a sale close to 1 million dollars--he would owe around $275,000 in long term capital gain taxes (State and Federal), plus recapture at 25% and the Medical CA tax of 2.9%.

He refused to get a second opinion. SO I called his wife, a legal secretary. She would not go behind her husbands back. They sold the duplex and paid $25,000 in total taxes. Three years later he got a letter, owing an additional $250,000, plus interest and penalty of $100,000. He had no way of getting those funds together, so he had his son sell the business and his daughter sell her extra condo.

Kinda like fishing -

time to throw out the Largest net (MLS advertising)

looking for the Biggest catch. (Highest and Best offers)

I've got my brokers license and I would say it depends on your market and your goals.

If you know some investor that wants to buy your duplex all you need a 1 page form saying John buys David's property for $250K with a few legal paragraphs that you can find on the internet. give that to your real estate attorney to do the paperwork and wait for the check at closing.

If you know some young kid a duplex is a great house hack for them. they live in one side and rent the other. I am hoping to sell my duplex to a grandson.

Don't want to deal with cheap investors trying to get a "deal" - then list it.

If I was selling my personal house I would get a different broker than me to list it because I could not think and feel objectively about the sale. Investment property I think I could sell to one of my friends or through the grapevine.

Brokers fees are negotiable so you need to figure out what you are willing to pay for this service. 2% on the buy side/ 2% on the sell side? 2.5% on the buy side / 2% on the sell side? If they want a full 6% I'd look for another agent. Priced right there should be a lot of interest from investors so it really shouldn't be hard to sell it.

You could get it appraised. Here that is about $500. This way you have an objective opinion about it's value. And you have the paper in hand to prove it.

I'm looking to sell my rental houses as a portfolio. A group called Capital Gains Tax Solutions is offering a potential solution to minimize capital gains taxes by deferring payments from the sale over a longer period of time.

I am shocked that so many advise using a realtor - though noted some responding were realtors themselves. Anyone who is a busy & involved owner for many years will know the local market very well, perhaps better than a realtor. I think a seller's agent is not at all worth it for an involved, knowledgeable & local owner.

To price it, figure out what investment properties are going for, using both gross multiple of rent and net multipliers. To sell it yourself, I suggest paying for a flat fee MLS service to get your building on MLS and to reach out the local investor community if you have ties. You will have to decide if and what you are willing to pay a buyers agent. I only pay 1.5%, though that may keep some agents from participating because they are offended. Find out who the investment focused agents are and reach out to them about the property. Also put your building out on Zillow. Do your own showings - you know more about your building than anyone. Create your own proforma and include it in the listing, some new investors have no idea how to do this.

If you do get a seller's agent, make sure they are someone who focuses on investment properties. Do your homework. Every realtor says they do this, but a real investor focused agent will have multiple investors ready to come out and look at it in the first week or two if it is priced correctly.

I have sold multiple 2 families (also student rentals) in the last few years as I shrink my portfolio. All without a sellers agent, all for record prices for my market. SOmeone who didn't know my market really really well wouldn't realize that my places would sell for much more than any comps as they are in better condition and have higher rents. Rents are a big factor in investment property sales and comps are less important.

A local Realtor WILL know their market though, Albany LL, and can offload a lot of the tedium (such as showings.) A knowledgeable Realtor will also know how to comp based on sale price or rents, etc.

A GOOD Realtor, David, is well worth their fee. A bad one is a waste of money. Make sure you are dealing with a good one. Someone who has done it full-time for decades and is not just a weekend warrior or relative salesperson. Someone who knows investment properties.