Sell a Duplex, Triplex or Fourplex for Cash in Arizona

What this means in practice

We buy duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes for cash in Apache Junction, Tempe, Avondale and across Arizona with the tenants still in them, and the price is built from the rent roll, not from what a family would pay to live there. Small multifamily is a different sale from a house. The buyer pool is investors, and investors look at rents, leases, deposits and deferred maintenance before they look at the kitchen. A 1970s fourplex in Tempe with four long-term tenants on month-to-month leases, two original AC units and a flat roof that needs recoating is exactly the kind of property that stalls on the open market, because a financed investor's lender wants leases, estoppels and an appraisal that supports the loan, and the tenants do not want showings. We skip all of that: one walkthrough with proper notice, a written offer, and a close through an Arizona title company in two to three weeks, with the leases and the deposits transferring to us at closing.

When this path makes sense

• You are tired of being a landlord and the units need work you do not want to fund
• A tenant stopped paying and you would rather sell than go through an eviction
• You inherited a duplex with tenants and heirs in different states
• The building has an unpermitted unit or a conversion a lender will not finance
• You are behind on the mortgage and the rents no longer cover it
• A partner wants out and the building has to be sold to split the equity
• The property is in Apache Junction, Tempe, Avondale or Mesa and you have had two financed buyers fall out

How the process goes

1. Send the rent roll. Call or use the form. We need the address, the number of units, the rent and lease term for each, who pays which utilities, and whether anyone is behind. A photo of the leases is enough to start.
2. One walkthrough with tenant notice. Arizona law requires at least two days' notice before a landlord enters an occupied unit to show it. We schedule one visit for all units at a reasonable hour, and we do not need the tenants to clean or move anything.
3. A written cash offer built from the numbers. We underwrite the building on its rents, its expenses and the repairs it needs, and write a firm offer below retail. No appraisal, no lender, no re-trade after a second inspection.
4. Close with leases, deposits and estoppels. The title company collects a signed estoppel from each tenant confirming rent, deposit and lease terms, credits the security deposits to us at closing, and prorates the rent to the closing date. Tenants get a written notice of the new owner and where to pay.

What it costs

You pay no commission, no repairs and no leasing fees, and we pay the standard closing costs. Three items come off your proceeds at closing that house sellers do not see. Security deposits transfer to the buyer, so the total deposits you hold are credited to us on the settlement statement; under A.R.S. § 33-1321 those are capped at one and one-half months' rent per unit, and the tenant gets them back from us when they leave. Rent is prorated to the day of closing, so if closing falls on the 10th you keep ten days of that month's rent and we get the rest. And any unpaid property tax, mortgage or lien is paid from the price. Recording the deed is $30 under A.R.S. § 11-475, and we pay that. The real cost is the gap between our offer and what a fully leased, fully financeable building would bring from an investor with a loan.

How this stacks up against the alternatives

Say an Apache Junction owner has a 1984 duplex, two 2-bed units at $1,350 a month each, one tenant on a lease through next summer and the other month to month and two months behind. The roof needs replacing, which HomeAdvisor puts in a national range of roughly $5,900 to $13,400, and both evaporative coolers should be swapped for AC. Listed, an investor with a loan would want the nonpaying tenant gone first, an appraisal that supports the price, and a credit for the roof, and the lease on unit A limits what they can do for a year. A cash sale takes the building as it sits, with the arrears, the lease and the roof, for a price below what a stabilized duplex with two paying tenants and a new roof would bring. That difference is the price of not doing the eviction, the roof and the lender dance yourself. If the building is full, paying, and in good shape, a listing to the investor market will net more, and an agent who works small multifamily is the right call. We buy in Apache Junction, Tempe and Avondale, and the rules for a single rental house are on the tenant-occupied page.

Questions we get

Sources: A.R.S. § 33-1321 - Security deposits (cap of one and one-half months' rent; return within fourteen days) · A.R.S. § 33-1322 - Disclosure of owner and manager; enforceable against successor owner · A.R.S. § 33-1343 - Landlord access; two days' notice to show the unit · A.R.S. § 33-1368 - Noncompliance; five-day notice for nonpayment · A.R.S. § 33-1375 - Periodic tenancy; thirty days' notice month to month, ten days week to week · A.R.S. § 33-814 - Deficiency judgment; anti-deficiency for single one- or two-family dwelling on 2.5 acres or less · A.R.S. § 11-475 - County recorder fees ($30 per instrument) · HomeAdvisor - Cost to install a roof (typical range $5,903 to $13,377)

If it's the right fit

If you own a duplex, triplex or fourplex anywhere in Arizona and want a cash number that does not depend on an appraisal or on the tenants leaving, call (928) 928-4109, Monday through Saturday, 8am to 8pm Arizona time, or send the address and rents through the form. We answer with a real number, not a range.