Most landlords don't decide to sell in a day. The decision shows up first in how the building gets run — and seeing the pattern clearly helps, whatever you decide.

On a duplex, two rents carry every bill. When the insurance renewal jumps with nothing changed at the building, it's worth asking whether it's still a building you want to hold.

Not knowing what happens next keeps a lot of landlords from making the first call. Here's the sequence you can expect in the first couple of days — no stopwatch, no pressure.

Most rental offers show up as a number with no explanation. I'd rather show the work — here's how I build an offer, using one made-up building as the example.

Most owners think about calling a buyer for a long time before they do. Here's what the first contact actually looks like — what I ask, what I don't, and what comes next.

Spring is the default answer for when to sell a rental. For a lot of York County 2-4 unit owners, it's a habit more than a plan — and fall deserves a real look.

A duplex in Dover or Manchester Township isn't a city row-house duplex — the buildings, buyers and comps all differ. Here's what to know before selling ahead of winter.

The delays that push a closing into next year are almost always paperwork, not financing. Here's the file to have ready before you sign anything.

Buyers price what they can verify. A clean rent roll and a tidy set of books are worth real money on a 2-4 unit — here's what to assemble.

Fewer buyers are looking once the weather turns, which changes how you price and what you can ask for besides price.

Fall buyers read a building differently than spring buyers do. Here's what they check first on a York County 2-4 unit, and why it moves the offer.

Closing before year-end means starting now, not in November. Here's the checklist for a 2-4 unit you want off your plate this year.

A lump sum and a payment plan can produce the identical sale price and very different tax outcomes. Here's the side-by-side on a 2-4 unit.

By the time your accountant sees the sale, the records that decide your tax bill are already whatever they are. Here's what to pull together while you can still change the outcome.

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.