Should Minneapolis Duplex Sellers Go Off-Market? Here’s What It Really Costs You”

“Can you just bring me a buyer?” 

I got that call last week. A long-time duplex owner has a solid duplex in a great neighborhood. He doesn’t want to list it. He’d use his attorney to handle his side. He simply wants me to bring him a sale.

There are advantages to him of doing it this way. Multiple showings wouldn’t inconvenience the tenants. There wouldn’t be a sign in the yard or an MLS listing for the neighbors to discuss. Theoretically anyway, he’d save money by paying his attorney, not a real estate agent.

Here’s the hard truth. He’s actually costing himself money.

How?

First, by limiting the number of buyers who can see the property. Off-market means he only reaches the people I, or any other Realtors he contacts may know.

Second, a real estate attorney is trained to write and negotiate real estate contracts. They are not trained in the current market, pricing, city-required inspections, or repairs a seller should make before a buyer sees the property. A buyer’s agent is not going to share those recommendations. He or she has been hired by the buyer to get them the best deal possible.

The MLS creates competition. Competition creates price wars. Without it, you’re negotiating against one buyer — and that buyer knows you came to them first. And without a live listing, you never truly know what the market would have paid.

Here’s the good news. Buyers like off-market deals a lot. They like being first and the opportunity to buy without a bidding war.

Here’s the bad. Most buyers expect to be able to buy off-market deals at a discount. In fact, thehe data on off-market sales is consistent and worth confronting directly.

In fact, studies of multifamily and investment property transactions consistently show off-market deals close at 3 to 8 percent below what a properly marketed listing achieves. On a $400,000 duplex, that’s $12,000 to $32,000 left on the table. On a $1.2M small apartment building, the gap widens considerably.

The seller’s consolation? Commission savings (often just one agent in the deal), zero prep costs, and a dramatically shorter holding period. For a seller with carrying costs, problem tenants, or personal urgency, those factors can legitimately close the gap. But they rarely eliminate it entirely.

The bottom line? Off-market deals that actually sell almost always favor the buyer on price. They favor the seller on everything else — speed, simplicity, privacy, and stress. Whether that tradeoff makes sense depends entirely on your situation, not a general rule.