5 Tips for Selling a Tenant-Occupied Home

Ready to sell your tenant-occupied home? If so, there are many pros and cons to consider. In some cases, it’s best to list your home after the tenants move out, but sometimes that is not an option. So when your home is tenant-occupied and you need to sell, how do you get the tenants on board? Below are 5 tips for selling a tenant-occupied home.

5 Helpful Tips for Selling a Tenant-Occupied Home

1. Communicate
The first step to selling a tenant-occupied home is to have a conversation with the tenant. You’ll want to put their mind at ease and let them know your plans to sell the property. During the conversation, make sure to let them know their lease will be honored and you’ll be targeting investors to purchase the property or a buyer who’s willing to wait until their lease expires. It’s imperative you reassure them that they won’t be homeless. If you don’t communicate your intentions, they might make it impossible to sell your property.

2. Create a Showing Schedule
While only allowing showings on certain days within certain time frames isn’t ideal, it may be the best option. By creating a showing schedule, it accomplishes two things. One, it shows the tenant you value their time and want to inconvenience them as little as possible. Two, it puts their mind at ease knowing they won’t be bothered 24-7 with showings. When a tenant feels like you care about them, they’ll be more likely to adhere to the set showing schedule and not deny access. This will make selling a tenant-occupied home a lot easier.

3. Offer Money
If your tenant is going to be cooperative with the sale of your home, it probably won’t be necessary to offer them a cash incentive. However, if your tenant is difficult, offering to reduce their rent may entice them to cooperate with all showings.

Instead of reducing their rent, another option is offering to pay for all or a portion of their moving expenses. Moving can be very expensive, so offering hundreds of dollars or even thousands of dollars towards moving can be very motivating for some tenants. Adding incentives when selling a tenant-occupied home can make things a lot easier.

If you decide to offer any type of cash incentive, make sure to put the terms in writing. All of the tenant’s obligations should be clearly outlined, and all parties should sign this agreement.

4. Offer a Cleaning Service
If the property is not “show ready,” offer to pay for a weekly or bi-weekly cleaning service while the home is actively for sale. By doing so, it might motivate them to tidy up and keep the property clean in between showings.

Oftentimes, it’s a lot easier for tenants to keep the home show-ready when they don’t have to spend time scrubbing floors and bathrooms. While cleaning services don’t come cheap, you may only have to do it a few times before the property is under contract. Spending a few hundred dollars won’t only make selling a tenant-occupied home easier but it will show better as well.

5. Handle Showings
One of the many benefits of hiring a top Realtor to sell your home is they will coordinate all of the showings. Whether they do it personally, use a call center, or an online schedule.

However, when selling a tenant-occupied home, it’s usually better if the seller schedules all showings with the tenant. By doing so, they are less likely to deny a showing if it’s coming from you as opposed to a third party, like your Realtor or a showing call center.

Final Thoughts
Selling a home with a tenant in place can be just as difficult, if not more difficult, than selling a home with kids or pets. So you’ll want to evaluate whether or not selling your tenant-occupied home is going to be the right move. If you have a very difficult tenant in place, they could easily cost you tens of thousands of dollars. In that case, it would be best to list the house for sale when their lease is up.

However, not every landlord has the option to wait, and if that’s the position you’re in, you’ll want to follow these steps to make the process easier. You’ll also want to hire a top Realtor who has experience selling a tenant-occupied home; it’s quite a bit different than selling an owner-occupied home