“Every great leap forward in your life comes after you have made a clear decision of some kind.” – Brian Tracy
Apartment property investors are constantly asking me when is the ideal time to get their properties ready to go “on the market.” Before I answer, I wanted to share the biggest mistake in selling an apartment building. The #1 biggest mistake I see investors make is:
Selling when you NEED to sell.
I have seen many investors over the years literally leave tens of thousands of dollars on the table when they sold their property because of some change in their lives. Retirement, divorce, financial problems outside of their property investment, and any other life change that “forces” the need to sell. This is the biggest mistake I see investors make, and one that you should avoid.
Now on to when you should get your property ready to sell. In my opinion, I would start getting things ready at least one year ahead of time. I know, timing is everything and you may not have this much time due to circumstances being what they are, but ideally it should be about a year.
Why a year? The MAIN reason is to get the rent up as high as possible. You know the tenant that you have been really nice to over the years. Letting them get by with lower (sometimes a lot lower) than market rent? Well now is the time to get the rent up there.
Why? Remember, the main points of value will more than likely be the cash flow the property produces. So, the rents are key here.
Also, this will give you time to do the necessary work and capital improvements that the buyer would possibly discount once the property is on the market. I have known buyers that have literally changed the value of their buildings by tens sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars by doing these things.
If you can get started working diligently on these at least a year in advance, and maintain focus, you will increase your sales price substantially over selling at a time when you NEED to sell. Timing can be everything, as they say, but getting the property performance up there as much as possible is key to a successful sale.
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