1031 Exchange: 13 Important Things You Need To Know

I was surprised at how easy the process was. It was a dream come true!!

Ok, I will admit that I couldn't stand the thought of selling my apartment building. Don't get me wrong. I had significant equity in the property. But that wasn't what held me back. It was the idea of strangers walking through the property. Asking awkward personal questions. All that fun stuff.

I knew letting people see the property was a necessary evil if I wanted to sell it, because this was my 7th investment property I had sold. But I had no idea how to keep it from becoming a major sideshow attraction. I thought of trying to sell it privately myself. Then my friend kindly terrified me with their horror stories of private selling. I promptly decided that this was something better left to the professionals.

So I called a local realtor that a neighbor was using and he told me he could get the job done. He also informed many different agents and people would be walking through the property. Also he told me that that it would take 3-6 months to sell the property, and I could not handle making my apartment building the new stomping ground for that long.

Hearing my plight, a friend recommended Mike Lembeck. This friend assured me that he would make selling my apartments very easy. After a couple days of contemplating I made the call. I was pleasantly surprised at what he told me.

Mike informed me that each buyer would be vetted and he would be on hand for any walk trough's or inspections. If they weren't on his list, they were not getting in. It was like I had my own personal bouncer!

My enthusiasm dampened when he wanted to sell my property for $28,500 more than the other agent. Also there where nicer apartment buildings in my neighborhood priced less than mine and none of which were selling! I told him my concerns, thinking this whole thing was a waste of time and money. He assured me that his system was different from what the others realtors where using, and it would sell my property fast, at the full asking price!

I was still skeptical, so I called my friend back to talk to her about it. She also assured me Mike's method would work. He'd done it for her with her own property. I decided to give it a go, preparing myself for a wild ride.

The next day Mike sent a photographer to take pictures and a video. I have to say I was completely blown away with how nice my apartment building looked in the video and the marketing strategy they came up with. The day after he started advertising we had over 14 buyers wanting to write an offer. After just two counter offers we had three full price offers. Then we had two more from buyers who had not even seen the property.

After Mike reviewed the offers with me, we accepted a full price offer! But now I have a new problem. I need to identify an exchange property in 45 days! If I wasn't careful, I was about to pay an huge capital gains tax!

So off I went with Mike to look at other apartment buildings. I thought the hard part was done when I found the area that I wanted. But to my dismay there was only one property for sale in that area. Mike told me not to worry. We would have plenty of properties to look at tomorrow. Sure enough, the man cold-called every apartment building owner in the area and found eight more sellers!

Mike negotiated the price, the terms, and took care of everything. All I had to do was pick the one I wanted.

I have to say I was blown away with how easy the whole process was. Mike was always two steps ahead of any problems. If you are thinking of buying or selling your apartment building, I can thoroughly recommend Mike.

I would highly recommend Mike Lembeck! UNDER PROMISED AND OVER DELIVERED!

We found ourselves in a pretty sticky spot. We bought our apartment building at the wrong time and then were about $80,000 upside down. After struggling with the payments, we put it on the market. We had almost no activity until Mike got involved. They were able to negotiate with the banks get a fair payoff. Everything went great and the Mike Lembeck Team kept us in the loop until our property sold.

It was such a great relief because being in financial trouble is just one of the hardest things anyone can endure. It felt like a giant weight was lifted and we were now able to move on and build a new life. Mike Lembeck's Team were true to their word keeping us updated on a constant basis. Even when there were a few bumps in the road (which had nothing to do with them), they kept us informed and just knowing the truth helped us greatly. We felt like they were fighting for us every step of the way.

I'm in sales myself and obviously there is always a temptation to sell your client on more than you could deliver. What we experienced with Mike Lembeck was the exact opposite. They under-promised and over-delivered and in the end we were very happy with the service. I could tell that they were making things happen that were typically very difficult for most agents. They were able to navigate through the complex mortgage banking system like pros. I would highly recommend Mike Lembeck to anyone looking for a professional real estate agent to help them buy or sell an apartment building.

Great marketing team! Great Marketing sold my apartments!

After a year and a half of being listed with two other realtors Mike was able to sell my apartments in 65-days and for more than 98% of the asking price. My apartments had been listed for over 18-months without a sale and it just seemed like high-end properties like ours just weren't moving. It seemed to be true for our property too. However, because of the Mike's extensive online advertising and promotion, they found a buyer within in just a little over two months who bought it for virtually the same price I had been listed with the other realtors

We hired Mike because we felt like they did more than any other agent had before them. Other agents seemed to just throw the property on the MLS and then would disappear, conveniently forgetting to call us again. With the Mike Lembeck Team we were updated every week during the entire process. They did more advertising and promotion than anyone else in the area. I had seen all of the ads and flyers from the Mike Lembeck Team and initially thought they were just under-pricing their listings. But thankfully what I actually thought turned out to be wrong. After a short and easy meeting with the Mike Lembeck Team, we felt like confident our property would sell. The results were proven and after 65-days our apartment building sold and got the price we were looking for.

Mike Lembeck will get the job done right away. Timing was very important to us!

We were very happy that they were able to move the property at a time that was very crucial to us. At first we hired someone to sell our apartment building that didn't really know what they were doing. They were new to the business. Then, when we hired Mike Lembeck it was amazing. They did so much more for us than the other agents had. At the time, it became very urgent that we sell our property and it became very tiresome to deal with the variety of things that came up. However, once Mike got involved things quickly changed for the better. They were diligent and persistent and tenacious.

In the end they were able to sell our apartments at a very critical time. If we had not been able to sell our apartments when we did, we would have had a heap of problems. At first when we received the Mike Lembeck Team fliers, we were very skeptical as we had already been burned several times. However, we took a chance and everything worked out in the end. The Mike Lembeck Team did everything they said they would do. It is with confidence and trust that we would highly recommend them for any of your upcoming real estate transactions. I'm sure there are others out there that may be up against the clock and facing crunch time in terms of selling a property. Mike will get the job done right away.

My apartments were not selling...no offers for 9 months

Our apartments were on the market for a while with no activity, when it came to for a new agent I decided to give Mike a try. I wanted to sell the property and not have people walking through the property that were not really interested. I've heard nothing but complaints (from other sellers) about to many inspections, but it just wasn't an issue for us. We had a handful of buyers that were already approved and narrowed down to this is exactly what they are looking for. I had a friend who complained about 5 to 7 walk through's and not one buyer opened escrow. When they had offers come through their real estate agent just wasn't able to get the deal done. I kept telling her you need to call Mike.

Mike was able to take care of every little situation that came up for me. He was able to think through things before they were a problem. After getting the contract, I was concerned with the inspection, because this property was older. I was also concerned with the appraisal but the process went smoothly. Mike was really involved with the whole process to make sure they were aware of all the upgrades to get me the most money for the property. I've already recommended Mike to a lot of people. I say if you want to sell your property you need to this guy to handle it for you.

I was very skeptical after many failed attempts to sell. I Talked to 28 Realtors, and NONE HAD MARKETING LIKE MIKE.

I had my property on the market for quite a while, and it wouldn't sell with many realtors over the course of 1 year. Once it expired I had many realtors sending me information, probably 40. Then I saw something that Mike sent me and it caught my eye. I was very skeptical about working with realtors after being burned over and over. I decided to give Mike a shot and was very happy that I did. I found him to be someone who didn't make false promises.

His marketing team came up with a plan and it really worked! He was not just sitting back once my property was on the MLS and wait for another realtor to bring the buyer. He's was very aggressive on getting my offers and working out the best one to get me the most money. He's much more technologically advanced than anyone I had dealt with and most of all he has integrity, he does what he says he will do. I found him to be competent and caring. He addresses every issue I bring up with respect and I have now sold my property and I'm very happy. If I had to sell or buy another apartment building I would come back to Mike.

Mike Lembeck is truly the real deal! I thought I knew it all after 32 years of buying and selling. . .

I can tell you that Mike is truly the real deal. I have had nothing but good experiences with them. I have bought and sold a lot of property and thought I knew how to do it; I had a good history of doing it. Specifically, there was an apartment building in a rural area we had it on the market for 8 months. We had priced it below market yet we weren't getting any offers. Nothing was happening at all. The problem was that the market changed and there were certain properties we just could not sell.

Mike had approached me many times for a period of several months. Finally, after enough much frustration I decided to give the Mike Lembeck team a try. In what seemed like no time at all we had a lot of offers. In the end we sold our property for the same price the other realtor hadn't been able to sell it for. If it weren't for Mike, I don't think we would have sold our apartment building.

Large amount of exposure got me my asking price. Full-price cash offer, highest price in area!

I choose RE/MAX Commercial because I liked the large amount of exposure you are provided on the Internet, with the videos ,drone. I was shocked when we had three offers right off the bat, but Mike told me to hold off for another week for a full price offer. Sure enough we had a cash full price offer a week later! Everything was done for me for a timely closing and it was painless! I didn't do any of it. Mike did all of it. I feel that the increased technology in the advertising and the presentation of my property really made a difference in how quickly it sold and getting my asking price as well. I really liked all the video and the drone shots, it showed the close proximity to the beach. You can say it's two blocks from the beach but then there are short blocks and there are long blocks. I most definitely would recommend Mike and RE/MAX Commercial in general for anybody who was thinking of selling their house or buying an apartment building.

We were really satisfied with the outcome! Bad experience with other realtors :(

In the one year experience with other realtors, we only had one so-called offer and it was a little iffy at that. Mike put a plan together and suddenly things began to happen. We started getting offers immediately and within 2-months later the apartments were sold. We were really satisfied with the outcome.

We had kind of figured out what our bottom line needed to be and were really excited that we sold the property for more than we had expected, even with the decline in the real estate market. If you want your apartment building sold quickly, then you can trust the agents at RE/MAX Commercial. They have some great ideas on how to sell properties quickly and at the best price.

I couldn't be more happy with Mike as my agent. He has helped me purchase two four plexs and I am currently in escrow on another four plex. With the current market conditions of low inventory and multiple buyers for the same property it helps to have an agent who is recognized by his colleagues as someone who will get the transaction closed smoothly. I have been able to beat out other buyers for properties because of his credibility with other agents. If it were not for this reputation, then I would not have been able to purchase the properties I have.

I called Mike because I had sold my apartment building and needed an upleg to complete my exchange. He was able to find me 10 units in Tustin that were taken back by the lender in foreclosure. Without his follow through during the escrow period the escrow probably would not have closed. I still speak to him periodically just to get an update on the current market conditions and to enjoy a laugh with him.

Mike helped us purchase an upleg property last year and helped us exchange one of our other properties this year. We've put our investments in a position to not only increase our net worth but also show a better return on our invested dollar. We plan on using his expertise in the future to expand our portfolio again

As a full time real estate investor I know I'm in good hands with Mike handling my transactions. He has listed and sold both apartment buildings and single family homes for me. I know I can always count on him to close escrow, even with the more difficult ones.

Mike sold my two four plexs in Buena Park and then helped me find a duplex for my daughter in Orange. I was so happy with his care and attention to my needs that I asked him to help another daughter sell her property.

Thanks again for all your help in selling the apartments. Selling properties at above appraisals is amazing to me.