Brought to you by Carl Stratton, Broker of Dennis Realty & Dennis Property Management and Lori Hendrix, Director of Dennis Property Management
Things to consider when you have a tenant in place. Is the tenant going to work with you in selling your property? Most likely not. They will do things such as not make convenient showing times for anyone because they are being inconvenienced. Their personal belongings are on display they really don’t want anyone walking through their house, especially when it doesn’t benefit them at all. 9 out of 10 times they are not going to go out of their way to help you. Every once in a while, you will get a tenant who will make it easy for you, but that doesn’t happen very often.
Showing condition of the house. The Tenants are going to make excuses of being busy or not being home. It’s not that we can’t go in without them being home, but they most likely want to be there during every showing which they aren’t available for. The Tenant also may point out the little issues that they may have with the house to the prospective buyer.
Who is your best buyer? The best buyer to get Top Dollar for your house is not the investor but the buyer who is going to live in the house. A lot of times the buyer does not want to buy a house with anyone living in it because they want to move into the house. Investors want to have a steady cash flow and the upper middle-class houses for sale are not attractive to an investor.
The best scenario to get top dollar for your house is to not renew your tenants lease, 60 days out send them notice that they are not going to be renewed. Then at that point, while the Tenants are still living there you can start doing your landscaping and curb appeal. Then you can be ready to do all your cosmetics on the house such as paint and carpeting, right when then Tenants move out. You will considerably get more money by spending a few thousand dollars on getting your vacant house all dressed up.
