Selling a duplex, four-family or apartment building in St. Louis

We buy multi-family property in St. Louis: duplexes, three- and four-families, and larger apartment buildings. We buy them with tenants in place, in the condition they’re in. Sometimes we’re the buyer, and sometimes we bring you an offer from an investor we work with. Either way, you’ll also see what the building would bring listed on the open market, so you know what you’re choosing between.

Call or text Adam at 314-210-5115. Seven days a week, no obligation.

Who calls us about this

Most people selling a multi-family building are in one of a few situations:

You’ve been a landlord a long time and you’re done. The building has been good to you, but you don’t want another furnace call at 2am.
You inherited it. Now you own a building with tenants, leases and a rent roll you’ve never seen before.
It needs more work than you want to fund. Roofs, tuckpointing, boilers, and units that need a full turn all cost a lot more when there are four of them.
Some units are empty or behind on rent. Those buildings are harder to sell the ordinary way, because most buyers’ lenders want to see the income first.
You want to move the money somewhere else. That might be a different property, a simpler investment, or retirement.

None of these is unusual. St. Louis has a lot of brick two-families and four-families, many of them close to a hundred years old, and a lot of them are owned by people who have had them for decades.

You don’t have to empty it, fix it, or wait for leases to end

Selling a building with tenants in it is normal. The leases transfer with the sale, and so do the tenants’ security deposits. The new owner takes over where you left off. You don’t have to give anyone notice to sell, and nobody has to move out for a sale to happen.

You also don’t have to turn vacant units, catch up on deferred maintenance, or fix the things you’ve been meaning to fix. A cash buyer prices those in. That’s part of what the discount pays for.

What a buyer will ask you for

Whoever buys the building, us included, will want to understand the income. It helps to gather what you can, but nothing has to be perfect before you call:

A rent roll. Which units are leased, the rent for each, and when each lease ends. A handwritten list is fine to start.
Copies of the leases, including any that are month-to-month.
Security deposits held for each tenant. They get transferred to the buyer at closing.
The main bills. Taxes, insurance, and any utilities you pay as the owner, such as water, sewer and trash, which are common on St. Louis multi-family.
Anything big you know about. A roof, a boiler, a foundation issue, or a notice from the city. Missouri sellers still have disclosure obligations, and buildings built before 1978 come with a federal lead-based paint disclosure.

If you inherited the building and don’t have any of this, that’s fine. We’ve helped families piece it together from bank statements and a conversation with the tenants.

Inspections and permits are local

Many St. Louis-area cities require an occupancy or point-of-sale inspection when a building changes hands, and the rules are different in each one. Some apply to every unit. Some require repairs before a new owner can rent. This is one of the places where it helps to work with someone who sells here every week. We’ll tell you what applies to your address and who handles it.

The two numbers, for a building

A cash offer on a multi-family building is usually less than it would bring listed. Here’s why the trade is sometimes still worth it:

A cash sale means no repairs, no turning units, no inspections that send a buyer’s lender running, and a closing date you choose. Empty units and late rents matter much less.
A listed sale usually brings more, especially for a building that’s fully leased, in decent shape and easy to finance. It also takes longer, and you keep managing the building until it closes.

We’ll put both numbers side by side for your building, with the costs and the timeline for each, written down. Then you decide. Here’s how the two numbers work.

When we’re the buyer, we tell you up front

Hermann London is a licensed Missouri brokerage. When we’re the one making the offer, we tell you in writing, before you sign anything, that we’re licensed real estate agents buying for ourselves. You’re always welcome to have your own agent or an attorney look over the offer. If we think the building would net you meaningfully more on the open market, we’ll tell you that as well, even though it means we don’t buy it.

Not ready to sell? Have it managed

Some owners call us to sell and realize what they actually want is to stop dealing with the building. Hermann London also manages St. Louis rental property, from duplexes to apartment complexes. If you want to keep the building and lose the 2am calls, we can talk about that instead. Property management · Apartment buildings

Questions we get asked

Do you buy buildings with tenants in them?

Yes. Most of the multi-family buildings we look at have tenants, and that’s fine. Leases and security deposits transfer to the new owner at closing.

What if some units are empty, or tenants are behind on rent?

Tell us early and we’ll price it honestly. Empty units and late rent make a building harder to finance, which is exactly when a cash buyer is most useful.

What size buildings do you buy?

Duplexes, three- and four-families, and larger apartment buildings across the St. Louis area.

Do I need to tell my tenants I’m selling?

You don’t need their permission to sell. You will need to arrange access when the building is walked through, and to follow the notice terms in each lease. Once the sale closes, tenants are told who the new owner is and where to pay rent.

Is there any cost to find out what it’s worth?

No. The conversation, the walkthrough and both numbers are free, and there’s no obligation afterwards.

Tell us about the building

The address, the number of units, and roughly what’s going on with it is plenty to start. We’ll take it from there.

Call or text Adam at 314-210-5115. Seven days, no obligation.