If you’ve owned a 5–50 unit building in Tampa Bay for a decade or more, your equity has probably never been higher — and your operating statement has probably never looked worse. Insurance premiums that doubled or tripled, property taxes reassessed on appreciated values, and repair costs that haven’t come back down. The question long-time owners keep asking us: is this the year to sell?

Run the Real Numbers First

Take your trailing-12 NOI, but recalculate it with your next insurance renewal quote and realistic repair reserves — not last decade’s. Many owners discover their true cap rate on current value is in the 4s. If you can sell at market and redeploy into something yielding more with less brain damage — or exchange into a newer building whose insurance profile is better — the hold decision stops being automatic.

What Buyers Pay For Now

Newer roofs, updated electrical (insurers are brutal on aluminum wiring and old panels), hurricane protection, and documented maintenance. Buildings with recent wind mitigation inspections and clean documentation sell faster and tighter to ask, because the buyer’s insurance quote is the real contingency in every Florida deal now.

Your Three Options

Hold and re-tenant toward market rents; sell outright and pay the tax; or sell and defer tax through a 1031 exchange into a different asset — many of our multifamily sellers exchange into industrial or NNN property precisely to escape the insurance-and-turnover treadmill. We walk through all three with actual numbers in a free valuation.

Learn more about how we serve multifamily owners and how a 1031 exchange works in Tampa.

Clayton Kuhn is a licensed Florida real estate broker (BK3489497) and the founder of Soho Property Group. Soho Property Group provides real estate brokerage services, not legal advice.