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If you're selling a duplex to buy something larger, a 1031 exchange can defer the entire tax bill — but the clock starts the day you close, and one common mistake disqualifies the whole thing.

A lot of owners keep a rental purely for the monthly income. Carrying a note can produce a similar check without the tenants, the turnover, or the roof — here's what the numbers actually look like.

Selling a rental in one lump sum stacks the entire gain into a single year. Taking payments over time spreads it — but you become the bank, and that cuts both ways.

Most owners selling a rental plan for capital gains tax. The bill that surprises them is the one on the depreciation they claimed — and on a long hold, it's often the bigger half.

Most landlords think about taxes in April, when every decision is already behind them. The moves that actually change your number have to happen while there's still a quarter left on the clock.

When one unit is leased and the other is empty, a buyer doesn't price your building as a whole — they price each door separately, on different assumptions. Here's what happens on each side.

Most owners assume a vacant unit weakens their sale. Sometimes it does — and sometimes it's the single thing a buyer is willing to pay extra for. The difference is who's buying.

The 'I'm done' moment usually hits after a hard rental season. Before you do anything drastic, here are the three things to get in order so you exit on good terms.

Fixing up a unit before you sell feels responsible — but the make-ready, lost rent, and re-leasing time add up fast. Here's when that spend pays back, and when it doesn't.

A single repair is a cost. A run of them is a signal. Here's how to tell whether an end-of-summer surprise is noise — or the building telling you it's time.

When siblings inherit a rental and can't agree on whether to sell, the property stalls and resentment grows. Here's how co-owners get unstuck — without a courtroom.

Most owners assume a vacant unit hurts the sale, so they rush to fill it first. Sometimes that's backwards. Here's how vacancy actually reads to a buyer.

A tenant giving notice in August drops a decision in your lap: re-lease into a thinner fall market, or sell now while the unit is already turning. Here's how to weigh it.

When a tenant won't cooperate with showings, listing the property can feel impossible. A direct sale doesn't need them — here's how it works with the tenant still in place.

The list price is the number everyone looks at. The costs that quietly eat into it — commission, showings, tenant friction, vacancy — are the ones that decide your real net. Here they are.

A direct sale isn't strictly better or worse than the MLS — it's a trade. Here's the honest ledger of what you give up and what you gain, so you can decide with clear eyes.

The listing grind — clean, stage, show, repeat — is built for houses, not tenant-occupied rentals. A direct sale replaces all of it with a walk, a rent roll, and an offer. Here's how.

Selling a tenant-occupied rental on the open market means showings, notice, and the temptation to go vacant first. A direct sale sidesteps all of it — here's the honest comparison.

"Off-market" sounds like insider jargon. It's simpler than that: selling your rental directly, without ever putting it on the MLS. Here's how it actually works, and why some owners prefer it.

Listing isn't the only way to sell a rental, and a direct sale isn't always second-best. Here's the honest side-by-side — price, speed, certainty, and effort — for a 2-4 unit owner.