If you own a single-tenant, net-leased property — a drugstore, a dollar store, a tire shop, a quick-service restaurant — and you're thinking about selling, the process is more straightforward than most people expect. But a handful of things genuinely matter, and getting them right (or wrong) means a real difference in price, speed, and whether the deal actually closes.

This is a plain-English walkthrough: what your property is worth, your real options for selling it, what you'll need to have ready, how long it takes, and the few things that cause deals to fall apart — so yours doesn't.

What you're actually selling

Here's the key mental shift: with a net-leased property, you're not really selling a building — you're selling an income stream backed by a tenant's lease.

A buyer isn't paying for the bricks. They're paying for the rent that tenant is contractually obligated to send every month, for the years left on the lease. So three things drive your value:

  • The tenant's credit. A lease backed by a national, investment-grade company is worth more than the same building leased to a local operator, because the income is more dependable.
  • The years remaining on the lease. More term means more certainty, which means more value. A property with 12 years left generally sells at a lower cap rate (higher price) than the same one with 3 years left.
  • The rent and its escalations. What the tenant pays today, and whether the rent steps up over time (the "bumps"). Steady increases make the income — and the property — more valuable.

Everything else — the building's age, the parking, even the real estate itself — matters far less than those three.

What is your property worth?

Net-lease properties are priced on a cap rate (capitalization rate). The math is simple:

Value = Annual Net Operating Income ÷ Cap Rate

So if your property nets $100,000 a year in rent and comparable properties are trading at a 6.5% cap rate:

$100,000 ÷ 0.065 = about $1.54 million.

A lower cap rate means a higher price, and vice versa. What pushes your cap rate down (price up): a strong tenant, long remaining term, rent bumps, a good location, and an absolute-NNN lease where the tenant covers taxes, insurance, and maintenance. What pushes it up (price down): a short lease, a weaker tenant, go-dark risk, or landlord responsibilities.

The honest catch: the "right" cap rate is set by what buyers are actually paying for comparable deals right now, and that moves with interest rates and the specific tenant. A current, realistic number is worth more than an optimistic one — overpricing is the single most common reason a property sits unsold.

Your two real options

When you decide to sell, you have two genuine paths.

1. List it with a broker. A broker markets the property, runs it through the listing platforms, and fields offers. You get broad exposure and competitive bidding — but you also pay a commission out of your proceeds, it takes longer, and you're exposed to buyers whose financing can fall through or who renegotiate the price late ("retrading") after you're already committed.

2. Sell directly to a buyer. Some firms — ours included — buy these properties for their own account, with their own cash. You skip the listing, the marketing timeline, and the commission off your proceeds, and with the right buyer you get speed and certainty. The trade-off is you're working with one buyer rather than a bidding war, so it matters that the buyer is credible, pays fairly, and actually closes.

Neither is right for everyone. A pristine, long-lease, investment-grade property in a hot market may do well on the open market. But if you value speed and certainty — or your deal has any hair on it (short term, a tricky tenant, a question mark) — selling direct is often the better path.

What you'll need to sell

Whichever route you choose, a buyer will want to see:

  • The lease and every amendment, plus any guaranty.
  • A rent roll and, ideally, a current estoppel from the tenant confirming the lease terms.
  • The most recent tax and CAM reconciliations (who pays what).
  • Title information and a survey, if you have one.
  • Any environmental report (Phase I or II) that exists.
  • Your tax basis, so you can plan for depreciation recapture and whether you want to do a 1031 exchange.

You don't need all of it perfectly packaged just to start a conversation. A good buyer can work from the basics — tenant, location, current rent, and years remaining — and tell you quickly whether there's a deal.

The process, step by step

A typical sale runs like this:

  1. Offer / LOI. The buyer reviews the basics and sends a letter of intent with a price and terms.
  2. Contract (PSA). Once you agree, a purchase-and-sale agreement is signed and earnest money goes into escrow.
  3. Due diligence. The buyer verifies the lease, title, survey, and condition over a set period.
  4. Closing. The title company handles the transfer and the funds.

On the open market, this can stretch over months. With a direct cash buyer and a clean file, it can run about 30 to 45 days from agreement to close — sometimes faster when a 1031 deadline is driving it.

What if your deal is "complicated"?

A lot of owners assume a less-than-perfect property is a problem to sell. It doesn't have to be — it just narrows the pool to the buyers who will do the work:

  • A short remaining lease term. Many buyers want 10+ years. A shorter term scares them off, but it's a normal, solvable situation for a buyer who understands the tenant and the renewal picture.
  • A vacant or soon-to-be-vacant building. No lease means no income to price off of, so it's valued differently — but it's still very much sellable to the right buyer.
  • An environmental question. A former gas station, a dry cleaner next door, a Phase II flag — these stop a lot of buyers cold, but there are established paths through them (no-further-action letters, state protection programs) for a buyer willing to dig in.
  • A difficult or unresponsive tenant. Sometimes a tenant won't cooperate with a large institutional buyer; a smaller, more communicative buyer can often get the same deal done.
  • An inherited property you don't want to manage. Common, and completely fine. Selling converts a management headache into cash, and a direct buyer can usually move quickly and handle multiple heirs.

The theme: "complicated" usually means "fewer buyers," not "unsellable" — and it often means you want a buyer who specializes in exactly that.

How to keep the deal from falling apart

Deals die for a few predictable reasons. Avoid them:

  • Overpricing. The fastest way to a stale listing. Price to real comps, not hope.
  • A buyer who can't actually close. Financing contingencies are where deals fall apart; an all-cash buyer with no loan contingency removes that risk.
  • The late retrade. Some buyers tie up your property, then grind the price down during due diligence when you're committed. The best protection is a buyer with a reputation for closing at the number they signed.
  • A messy file. Missing lease amendments or an unsigned estoppel can stall a closing. Get your documents together early.

The short version

Know what your property is really worth (income ÷ cap rate), get your lease documents together, and decide whether you want the broad exposure of a listing or the speed and certainty of selling direct.

And if you'd rather skip the listing process entirely, that's exactly what we do: send us the basics on your lease — tenant, location, current rent, and years remaining — and we'll get you an offer, usually within a few days. All-cash, our own capital, no broker required. Tell us about your property.