Here are several creative and effective strategies for selling a rental property to release equity, regardless of the market.
Becoming a landlord can completely change the course of your financial future. You can capitalize on financial benefits such as passive cash flow and released equity. As life-changing as owning real estate can be for an investor, not everyone wants to be a landlord forever. Depending on your future plans, it may be time to sell parts of your portfolio and experience the next chapter that life has in store for you. Or perhaps you plan to expand your portfolio, but want to enter a different real estate market?
Regardless of your plans, selling a rental property comes with its challenges. Not every rental property is well-designed to be a comfortable primary residence. To make sure that you don’t get stuck with an unwanted rental property, we are here to uncover several selling strategies that every landlord should keep in their back pocket. You will learn how to sell a house that was previously a rental property with ease. If you feel like you are stuck with your portfolio, these actionable tips will help.
Here are several creative and effective strategies for selling a rental property, regardless of the market.
You don’t always need to look far when searching for someone to buy your rental property. They could be right under your nose (and roof). Structuring a rent-to-own agreement is arguably the most efficient way to sell a rental property. You can avoid listing your home on the market, spending weeks marketing the property, hosting open houses, and the additional headaches that come with the traditional real estate sales process. If your tenant is interested in eventually buying your rental property, but doesn’t have the funds or isn’t quite ready yet, you can structure an agreement to have them buy it after a certain amount of time.
It’s important to discuss all of the details with your tenant to make sure everyone is on the same page. Select a timeframe that feels comfortable for both parties. A common example is to have the tenant rent your property out for 5 years and then purchase it after the 5th year. Price, dates, and all other details can be outlined in the agreement.
Of course, 5 years is a long time to wait. You can design the agreement to allow the tenant to purchase your house earlier if they are willing and able to. Selling your rental property this way allows you to dodge the timely process of listing your home on the market and shopping around for potential buyers.
If selling your rental property to your tenants is not an option, you’ll have to find another way to find a buyer. Depending on your market, it can be challenging to find an end buyer for a rental property. To help showcase the financial benefits of your rental property, highlight the cash flow that it brings in monthly and yearly. This will help paint the picture for other investors on why this is a sound investment. Dive deep into the profit and loss statement to show other local real estate investors why they should consider adding this to their portfolio.
For many real estate investors, they care less about what a rental property looks like and more about the numbers. Showcase how strong the cash flow is from your property. Outlining the cap rate is also helpful to demonstrate the financial benefits of purchasing your rental property. Any property can be sold when it’s to the right buyer. Do your best to highlight the objective points as to why your property makes sense for another investor to purchase.
You can easily monitor and report on cash flow using the Landlord Studio app. Find out more…
Once you’ve compiled the numbers that show why your rental property is a good deal, you must find the right buyer. Local real estate meetups are a great place to start and require minimal effort in return for lots of exposure. Typically, real estate meetups allow people to announce if they have a deal available or know of any properties for sale. This is your opportunity to let all other real estate professionals know about your rental property.
Local real estate meetups are comprised of various types of professionals. Ideally, you can find one that has been around for a while so that it’s worth your time to attend. Many meetups include realtors, investors, flippers, landlords, title companies, lenders, and more. Oftentimes, if the meetup has a strong base, there’s a good chance that someone there can help you or connect you with someone that can help.
Real estate meetups are a great networking opportunity too. You can form relationships in different facets of real estate that can help you regardless of your goals and needs.
Related: Top 10 Real Estate Forums For Real Estate Investors And Landlords
There are countless strategies to try selling a rental property. Do your best as a landlord to work smart and not hard. Utilize your local resources and network with the people when it makes sense to. You never know who will actually be interested in buying your rental property.
Most landlords don’t ask their tenants, so they never find out if they are interested. Keep an open mind and stay creative – this will help you sell your rental property with ease and move on to the next chapter of life.