Are you a Maryland, Northern Virginia, Washington, DC, Pennsylvania, or Florida real estate investor? If so, we’re sure you know the thrill of buying a new property to add to your real estate investment portfolio! It’s a great new opportunity to learn new things, use your hard-earned skills, and embark on an adventure that helps you add new revenue to your bottom line.
But real estate investing is not just about buying. It’s about selling, too. This is especially true if you abide by the fix-and-flip model, but it may also be true if you’re a buy-and-hold real estate investor. There are times when it simply makes sense to sell a property, even if you’re trying to maintain a variety of properties in your diverse real estate portfolio.
Sometimes, a property isn’t meeting your goals. Sometimes you need to downsize. It doesn’t mean you’re giving up on the property; it just means that you’re making your real estate portfolio work better for you. Selling is often part of a well-thought-out real estate strategy.
Here are some scenarios in which you should consider selling an investment property.
1. The numbers make sense for a fix-and-flip
Even if you had originally intended to be a buy-and-hold investor, some properties make sense as flip properties. Maybe it is in a neighborhood where people want to buy, not rent, and you can make significant improvements to get a good return on your investment. You can simply sell the property, take your check, and invest it in a new buy-and-hold property that fits better with your strategy.
2. You found a better property somewhere else
Unless you have a money tree growing in your backyard, you can’t buy every property that catches your eye. Some properties will fit your strategy perfectly; others will not. If you bought a property and later found that it didn’t fit into your long-term real estate investment plan, now is the time to let it go and invest in that property across town that suits your needs better.
3. You want to invest in a different market
You probably chose to get into real estate investing because it sounded like an exciting adventure, right? If you want to continue to have a fun and fulfilling career, you need to keep it exciting! Over time, your priorities will probably shift—and that’s OK. Something that used to interest you is no longer the most exciting pursuit. Maybe your local housing market is changing, or maybe it’s just your own personal interests that are changing. In any case, you should pursue the markets that really interest you, and sometimes, that means selling one of your older investments.
4. You want to downsize your business
Maybe you’re getting closer to retirement age. Maybe you just feel like you’re juggling too many balls in the air. If your gut tells you it’s time to downsize, you should probably follow that intuition. If your business is getting to be too much, you could consider hiring a property manager or other staff to help out—but if downsizing is a goal, rather than growth, then it’s time to start selling off investment properties.
5. Maintaining the property isn’t worth the effort
And finally, sometimes, maintaining a property isn’t worth the time and energy that you put into it. Some properties just feel like they have bad luck. Things are always breaking, you can’t keep good tenants in it, or it isn’t performing the way you expected. If you’ve tried to solve the issues and it still just isn’t working out for you, selling may be the way to go.
