Are you looking for the best way to sell your property portfolio?

When you sell your property portfolio there is more than one option available. Do you sell with or without tenants? Do you break up your portfolio and sell the properties one at a time? Which is time-consuming. Should you sell all of your properties in one transaction to another landlord? This will allow you to sell your properties quickly. Alternatively, if you have a large portfolio should you split your portfolio into smaller parcels of properties? This could take more time. You could even sell off some of the properties individually and sell some of them off as smaller parcels of properties. Again, this could take some time to sell all of your investment property portfolio. There is something of a play-off between time versus money versus convenience. There are also additional hidden costs in some of these scenarios.

Selling the Properties in a Property Portfolio One at a Time

Selling your properties one at a time may yield the highest sale price however it also presents some challenges.

If you decide to sell the properties in your property portfolio one at a time, should you sell them with or without tenants? If you sell them with tenants then you limit the market for your property to landlords or potential landlords.

Maybe you allow the tenants to stay in the property until you find a buyer. However, this can also cause problems if the tenant isn’t cooperative in facilitating viewings, or maybe they don’t keep the property very tidy which may put off potential buyers. Having a tenant in the property while you are trying to sell it will probably not allow you to showcase the property at its best.

Selling the property without the tenant will allow you to decorate and possibly refurbish the property to bring it to its most attractive condition. If you don’t have sufficient funds, it may be that you are not able to do the necessary refurbishment and therefore you have to take a discount on the selling price of the property.

You may even decide to dress the property to make your property even more appealing to a buyer. When selling a property that is immaculate and dressed you are probably going to maximise the selling price for the property.

When you sell your properties one at a time the chances are you will have to pay for redecoration, possibly new carpets, or more extensive refurbishment. Selling properties without a tenant in place will also mean that you have no rental income during the period of time that the property is being refurbished and when you are looking for a buyer. You will also have to pay council tax, electricity, gas, and water on the property when there is no tenant in the property. These are all hidden costs that are easily missed.

If you have a mortgage you will have to continue paying the mortgage. You may also find that if you have a portfolio mortgage it may be the case that the mortgage company will not even allow you to sell properties individually if there isn’t enough equity in the portfolio.

If all of your properties in your portfolio have mortgages on them then it could take you a considerable amount of time to sell the properties if you have a large portfolio because your cash flow may only allow you to put one or two of them up for sale at a time without tenants in them so you can still cover all of the costs.

Selling your properties one at a time may yield higher sale value but the hidden costs may mitigate this benefit. If you are looking for a quick solution then selling your properties individually is probably not the way to go.

Selling a Property Portfolio in Small Parcels of Properties

If you have a large portfolio of properties splitting it up into smaller parcels of properties will mean that there will be more landlords and investors who are interested in purchasing them. Also, you will be able to sell the properties with the existing tenants living in them. Landlords will be more willing to purchase the properties in their current condition. Landlords will of course expect some discount for buying properties in parcels however you may not have to pay for any refurbishments, you won’t have any rental voids and associated costs and you will be able to sell your properties quicker. Selling your property portfolio in parcels of properties can also be useful if you have portfolio mortgages because you can sell all of the properties in a portfolio mortgage in one transaction.

Sell a Portfolio of Properties to One Buyer

The quickest and most convenient way to sell your property portfolio is to sell them all in one transaction to a landlord. Even with the increasing challenges of owning a property portfolio, there are landlords who want to purchase portfolios of properties. When you sell a portfolio of properties to one buyer you will have to give them a discount but they are often willing to purchase the properties in their current condition with the existing sitting tenants. This will save you the costs associated with having an empty property and any refurbishment costs. Selling all of your properties to a landlord is not restricted by portfolio mortgages.

Sell a Property Portfolio at an Auction

In recent times the number of property auctions in the UK has increased substantially. Because of this, there are multiple auction houses that will be able to sell a property portfolio in one transaction. There are several benefits to selling a property portfolio at an auction including being able to sell properties in their current condition with sitting tenants and therefore not having any of the costs associated with an empty property.

To maximise the amount of money that your property sells for you have to maximise the interest in the property before the auction. This is done by having viewings of properties and allowing many people to come and look at each of your properties. This can be challenging if your tenants object or are unwilling to cooperate. Without the viewings, the level of interest will drop, and subsequently the amount of money that you sell for at the auction will be lower.

Selling a property portfolio at an auction can provide a quick way of selling your properties all at once albeit at a discount. The auctions are certainly not guaranteed to always be successful in finding a suitable buyer either because of a lack of potential buyers or because the reserve price is not met on the auction day.

Selling a Property Portfolio to a Housing Association

Many landlords overlook the possibility of selling their portfolio or a parcel of properties to a Housing Association. Housing associations are always looking for properties to add to their existing portfolio. Housing Associations will purchase properties with or without tenants. Because housing associations rent properties to their tenants at below market prices, they will expect to purchase your properties for a low price. If selling your property portfolio at a low price is acceptable to you then it will be worth contacting your local council and housing association to talk about selling your portfolio of properties to them.

Was there a time when your property portfolio was part of your plans for a better future? But now you find yourself no longer excited by that dream, or maybe things haven’t quite worked out the way you wanted them to, or maybe you have not made as much money as you had hoped you would from your portfolio of properties. Are thinking your property portfolio no longer fits with your plans.
Maybe you have had enough of dealing with tenants. Trying to fill your properties, finding the right tenant, and then trying to keep the tenant. Constantly having to deal with never-ending problems and hassle – gas safety certificates, electrical safety tests, plumbing issues, tenants not paying on time, tenants in arrears, and more. Maybe you don’t manage the properties and you pay a property manager or estate agent to run them for you which is sapping the profit out of your business due to excessive management fees.
From time to time a bad tenant leaves one of your properties in an appalling condition and it costs much more than the deposit to put right and takes time and hassle to get the property back to a tenantable condition. Furthermore, what seems like never-ending and increasing regulations is making running the portfolio an increasing burden as you have to jump through more and more hoops to rent your properties.
It may even be the case that some of your properties have got into a state of disrepair and your business cannot afford to carry out the necessary work to bring them back to a condition that will allow you to attract the right quality of tenants.
When your property portfolio is barely making enough money to cover the costs you may feel that you are working for free. This seemed okay in the early days because you thought the value of the properties will appreciate over time and eventually you will be rewarded. Now many years later you are still working for your property business and the values of the properties have not quite risen to the level that you had hoped. You now feel property portfolio has become a burden.
Maybe your circumstances have changed and you have a new career or you are retiring or emigrating and you know that it is time to sell your property portfolio.
Selling your property portfolio may not be as straightforward as you had hoped. Maybe you have portfolio mortgages that make it difficult or impossible for you to sell individual properties. The process of selling your properties may result in rental voids, additional expenditure to improve the property all while continuing to pay the mortgage, council tax/business rates, and other costs. When you sell the properties, you have to pay fees associated with the sale, you are then taxed with corporation tax on the profits and then you have to pay tax on any money you take out of the business from the proceeds. The result is that it might not be worth your time.
This may be further compounded by some or all of your properties being in negative equity which seems to be preventing you from doing anything. In this scenario, your only option seems to be to wait for the market to rise sufficiently to allow you to eventually sell your portfolio and in the meantime, you have to continue to work for free and put up with the hassle.
There has to be a better way…
Fortunately, there is another option which is to sell the whole of your portfolio and you will solve many of the problems mentioned in this article…
Typically, when you sell your portfolio, it will be at a discounted price. You may be thinking you want the full market price. Why should you accept a discount? Some of the things to consider if you sell the properties individually are you would get taxed twice on the sale of corporation tax and then tax on the payment to yourself. Furthermore, you would also probably experience extra costs such as estate agent costs, rental voids, cost of refurbishing properties all while continuing to pay the mortgage. It would also take a long period of time to sell all of your properties. The result is that if you sold all of the properties yourself you would ultimately not receive the full market value.
The solution is to sell the whole of your property portfolio in one transaction. We buy portfolios of properties from people just like you.
If you are ready to speak to us about the best way of selling your portfolio of properties in a single transaction, please contact us on the