Tips for selling your rental property

By Joel Persinger
YourRealEstateDude.com

Many of the people I meet in my career have a desire to own rental property. They have read all the books, watched all the late night infomercials, attended “Hype” seminars and listened to friends or family talk enthusiastically about how well they were doing investing in real estate. Still, running a rental “business” is not quite as simple as the infomercials make it appear. One of the most challenging aspects of the business often rears its ugly head when it comes time to sell the property while the tenant still lives there.

It is an inescapable fact that tenants aren’t generally pleased when their landlord puts the property they are renting up for sale. Even the nicest tenants can become nasty and uncooperative once the “For Sale” sign goes up. Uncooperative tenants will make both you and your Realtor miserable. They will argue with your agent, make unrealistic and sometimes downright ridiculous demands and often make the property very difficult, if not impossible, for prospective buyers to see. When and if they do allow a buyer to be shown the property, they will leave the place such a mess that the buyers cannot possibly imagine purchasing the place.

Though the situation may seem impossible to overcome, there are some steps you can take that may improve your chances of getting your property sold without starting World War III. The first step is to hire an experienced Realtor. It is best to hire one who has extensive experience selling tenant occupied property.

It is also positive to make a deal with your tenant. I generally suggest my clients take a shot at selling the property to the tenant at a slight discount. This saves time, trouble and effort and gets the home sold to someone who is already happy to live there.

If the tenant doesn’t wish to buy, you may be able to strike a deal with your tenant by offering a monetary incentive. For example: you may offer to pay the tenant some money when the property sells in addition to returning the security deposit, so long as he allows the property to be shown and keeps it clean and presentable.

Some tenants are going to be difficult no matter what you try. When faced with such circumstances, there are two more approaches that may work for you. The first is to remove the tenant and sell the property once the tenant is gone and the property is vacant. The second is to examine your lease to see if you have a clause which allows you to enter the property with some length of written notice for the purpose of showing it to prospective buyers. If the clause exists, then instruct your real estate professional to post a written notice on the tenant’s door with the required amount of notice and show the property. Once you have shown the property a couple of times using this approach the tenant may move out of his own accord, taking the problem with him when he goes. Regardless of the approach you chose, the most important advice I can give you is to stick to your guns and treat your rental property and your relationship with your tenants like a business.