Loan is maturing. 

• Ballon loans - 5 years or less - Payment is due in a lump sum
• Intermediate term loans - 3 years - Paid in monthly installments
• Long-term loans - 20, 25, or 30 years - Paid in monthly installments
• Do you arrange for a new loan or sell?
• Some investors prefer to just sell the property, exchange into a new property, and get a new loan, rather than going through the tedious process of lining up new lenders.
• Note: Consider pre-payment penalties on a new loan that may affect your exit strategy.

Upcoming Tenant Vacancy.

• Tenant vacancies decrease value.
• In the case of a lease expiration, a vacancy could result in a major loss in value.
• Consider the time factor to replace a tenant without that scheduled income.
• Consider the cost of tenant improvements or tenant concessions.
• It's possible to sell a property with two or more years remaining.
• Or discount the sells price to reflect a value-add opportunity.

Death of the Owner.

• The heirs may be unwilling to manage the property.
• If there is any deferred maintenance it may make more sense to sell the property allowing the buyer to create value through capital improvements.
• They might prefer to cash in on the profits and re-invest the proceeds into another investment property.
• Heirs can take advantage of the IRS tax code regarding the step-up or step-down cost basis at fair market value to eliminate any capital gains tax from the previous ownership.

The property is too much work.

• The property may require renovations, or
• A multi-tenant property has too much turnover, or
• The investor finds that they don't have the time required to invest in the property.
• Some investors decide it's easier to sell, and exchange, into a less intensive management property, such as a single-tenant net lease investment.

The partners are dissolving their partnership.

• Partners separate for many reasons - their goals no longer align.
• They may sell the partnership assets and split the proceeds.
• Each partner may decide to exchange into other real estate assets separately.

Reduce tax liability through depreciation.

• The larger the value of the property, the larger depreciation can be claimed.
• Depreciation is based on the useful life of the property (building only, not the land), as determined by the IRS, typically 39 years on a commercial investment property.
• Some sellers prefer to sell a property that has appreciated significantly, so they can trade
  into a larger asset and enjoy the benefits of reducing or even eliminating their taxable
  income each year.

Diversify a portfolio.

• Sometimes an owner ends up with an imbalance of properties in their portfolio that puts
  them at risk.
• Property types, locations, or tenancy.
• The property isn't performing like the investor expected it to.
• The owner might choose to sell the property to reduce risk, increase diversification, or
  increase cash flow.