Off-Market Multi-Family Sales

As a seller I’m sure you’ve heard the term “selling off-market” before. But there’s a lot of baggage that comes with that term and it can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. 

I’ll explain how I think about off-markets, and why I think they can be a useful tool to leverage if and when the right situation presents itself. 

When I help a client sell off-market, that means NOT putting their home on MLS or Zillow or other public-facing places. It also means NOT putting a sign in the yard or having traditional open houses where dozens or hundreds of people come through for a few hours. 

So first off, when should you NOT go with an off-market? 

 → You want to maximize your property’s exposure and final sales price. 

You are going to get way less exposure with an off-market listing. With an on-market listing you are going to have your unit published to MLS which will reach 1000s of agents and potential buyers. You’ll also reach Zillow, affiliated sites and many others, where likely 10s or 100s of thousands of people will be able to see your house. You’ll have an open house where the general public can view your property and you can set an offer deadline and hope to bid up the price.

So to be clear, on-markets are the best way to maximize exposure and likely final sales price for your home. 

So when does it make sense to do an off-market sale? 

→ You have a complicated situation with your tenants. Perhaps you aren’t on speaking terms or there’s ongoing litigation or it’s just a really complicated situation and you don’t want to go through the hard work of notifying them and coordinating a few open houses.

→ You are an extremely private person. You don’t like the idea of public information about your property being “out to the world”. Even with off-markets there will be some information out to some agents and buyers, but it will be much more limited.

→ You want to “float” a price, without having a history of your pricing on Zillow or other places. For example, you have a particular price in mind but you aren’t ready to list on the open market, you could float your price to see what’s possible. If you get your price, all the better and if not? That could just be a sign that you are priced a bit too high. 

→ You have a complicated personal situation.  Perhaps you have a complicated family issue going on, and you’re overwhelmed at the prospect of open houses and the general public in your home. 

→ Your home is in disarray and you don’t want to have to fix it. You want to leave everything “as-is” AND you don’t feel comfortable with the general public coming through your property

These are just a few scenarios that I have seen over the years where an off-market can make sense. If you do choose to sell-off-market, know that I typically always have buyers that are interested in off-market properties as well. If this is the route you’re considering, please reach out to me as every situation is unique and it’s important to understand both the pluses and minuses of going the off-market route.