Pittsburgh landlords may choose to sell their rental properties for various reasons. Sometimes the decision is strictly financial: they need the money for another purpose. Other times the decision is personal: they are ready to retire from being a landlord. If you own a rental property in Pittsburgh, today’s post will be valuable for you. We’ll discuss the most common reasons Pittsburgh landlords choose to sell their rental properties, and share some tips that will make the process of selling a rental property simple and profitable.
When Should You Sell Your Rental Property?
The vast majority of Pittsburgh rental property owners want to sell their rental property for the same few reasons. These reasons include:
Relocation. Perhaps a landlord has owned a property for several years, but now needs to move away from Pittsburgh. Rather than hire a management company, or try to manage the property remotely, many people choose to sell their rental property.
Vacancy. If a landlord is having a difficult time filling a vacancy in a rental property, expenses can mount very quickly with no revenue to offset the expenses. After a long period of vacancies, it can be difficult to catch up on these expenses. Therefore, many landlords decide to sell their rental property if they have too many vacancies, choosing to accept cash for the property instead of waiting for a qualified tenant.
Other Investment Options. Landlords whose rental properties have gone up in value significantly may decide to sell their rental property to pursue other investments. For example, a rental property purchased 20 years ago for $100,000 may have generated $1,000/mo. in income. That same property may be worth $300,000 now, but maybe only rents for $1,500/mo. In this example, the value of the building has increased faster than the rental income, so it may make sense to sell the rental property and use the equity to buy a different investment with better cash flow.
Costly Repairs. All landlords face costly repairs at some point. A new roof, foundation repair, or the need to remodel an entire unit can be very costly. Many landlords don’t have enough capital reserves to cover these repairs and decide to sell their rental property instead.
Difficult Tenants. Not every tenant pays their rent on time and keeps the property in good condition. If a landlord has multiple tenants like this, the stress can build up quickly. Oftentimes the easiest way for a landlord to deal with problem tenants is to sell the rental property. That said, it can sometimes be difficult to sell a rental property with tenants. We’ll provide a tip below to help with this.
Tips for Selling Your Rental Property in Pittsburgh
If you’re a landlord in Pittsburgh and any of the above situations apply for you, perhaps you’re considering selling your rental property. If so, here are some tips for doing so in a quick and efficient manner.
- Keep costly repairs to a minimum. Most experts agree that it’s not a good idea to make the same types of improvements to a rental property as you would to a single family home before selling it. The reason is that real estate investors buy rental properties, and they are more concerned with the amount of rental income a property can generate as opposed to how nice the property looks. Therefore, think twice before spending money on your rental property if it won’t help to generate more income.
- Know your numbers. Anybody buying a rental property will want to know how much income is generated from rents, as well as how much it costs to operate the building. If you’re thinking about selling your rental property in Pittsburgh, be sure to gather your rental income for each unit, utility bills, taxes, insurance, and any other operating expenses you may encounter. Not having these will turn away many buyers and may make your property more difficult to sell.
- Notify your tenants. Many landlords think it’s a bad idea to let their tenants know they are selling the property. In my experience, tenants prefer to hear this from the landlord as opposed to finding out when prospective buyers are walking their apartment. Take the high road and inform your tenants. The other benefit is that one of them may be interested in buying the property from you.
- Consider all your options. When it comes time to sell your Pittsburgh rental property, you may think that listing it with an agent is the only option. That said, there are some potential downsides to listing your rental property with an agent. Not only that, many agents have a hard time valuing multi-family properties. As an alternative, you could consider selling your property to a real estate investor directly. The benefit to this approach is that they can typically close very quickly, and don’t charge a commission. Also, they will buy a property in any condition, rented or vacant.
If you would like to sell your Pittsburgh rental property for cash quickly, contact us today. McIntosh Management, LP has over 8 years of experience buying rental properties in Pittsburgh. Fill out the form below to get a free estimate on what we can pay for your Pittsburgh rental property. We’ll get in touch with you within 24 hours!