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.
