This is the kind of building most Louisville investors buy first: a two-unit house with tenants already paying. Shey Blake of Winner Realty represented the buyer.
The numbers
- Property: 1212 Queen Ave, Louisville, KY 40215. Duplex. Built 1934.
- Unit mix: first floor 2-bedroom, 1-bath with living room, dining room, kitchen, and basement access; second floor 1-bedroom, 1-bath
- Asking price: $127,900
- Closed price: $120,000 (93.8% of asking) on February 27, 2026
- Price per unit: $60,000
- Days on market: 22
- In-place rents reported on the listing: $595 (first floor) and $425 (second floor), $1,020 a month, $12,240 a year
- Gross rent multiplier at purchase: 9.8 on in-place rents
- Leases: both month-to-month, both occupied, 48-hour notice to show
- Side: Shey Blake, Winner Realty, represented the buyer
What the building was
A 1934 two-unit with long-term tenants whose rents, by the seller's own description, were below market. Both leases were month-to-month, which cuts two ways: the buyer inherits no long fixed-rate lease, and the tenants can leave on short notice. The listing pitched it to investors and to owner-occupants who would live in one unit and let the other cover part of the mortgage.
What the record shows
$1,020 a month across two units in 40215 is low. The seller's own listing called the rents below market, so the gross rent multiplier of 9.8 at purchase understates the building's earning power once rents move toward market. The 22 days on market and the $7,900 negotiated off the ask reflect a listing that drew interest but not a bidding war, and a buyer who was ready to close.
The 48-hour showing notice is worth noting for anyone selling an occupied duplex. It slows showings, which lengthens days on market, which weakens your negotiating position. Sellers who can line up tenant cooperation before listing, or who time the sale around a vacancy, usually net more.
What it means for you
If you are buying your first 2+ unit building, this is the template: occupied, under-rented, priced near $60,000 a unit, with a clear path to raising income. Shey Blake closed eleven buyer purchases in the West End and South End between February and April 2026, nearly all in this price band. If you own a duplex with below-market rents and want to know what it would bring, our free commercial property valuation prices it on the rent roll and on what the units would command at market.
Run your own numbers
Every deal file on this site uses the same yardsticks: price per unit, gross rent multiplier (price divided by a year of rent), and the cap rate where expenses are known. Our cap rate guide explains each one, and the commercial calculators let you test a building in a few minutes. Want a number on a building you own? Ask for a free commercial property valuation.
See all of Winner Realty's closings, residential and commercial, on the closed deals page, and Rob Bergeron's 45 commercial closings since 2014.