Plan Your Exit Before You Buy
Buying feels like the decision. Selling is the part that decides whether the investment worked. Yet most people never ask the first question of an exit: who is my next buyer?
Three exit questions
- Who will want this in five years? A family, an investor, a tenant who becomes a buyer? If you cannot name the person, you are guessing.
- What would they pay for? Location, layout, view, running costs, a quiet building. Does your unit have those, or only a good launch story?
- What will it cost me to leave? Agent fees, transfer costs, and the months it may take. Add these to your return.
Liquidity is a feature
Two units can have the same price and the same rent. One sells in weeks, the other waits. The difference is how many people want it. Standard layouts, mainstream locations and well-run buildings usually have more buyers than unusual ones.
Write your exit on one page
- My planned holding period.
- The kind of buyer I expect, and why.
- The price below which I will not sell.
- Two things that would make me sell earlier.
If you cannot fill this page, you are not ready to buy yet. That is useful information, and it costs nothing to find out now.
