Want to Sell Investment House without Too Much Interruption to Tenant with Baby

Lfrugalman on 22/10/2020 - 13:35

Hi Everyone,

My tenant just had a baby but I need to sell my investment house.
I'm looking for ideas that'll work for both of us (me and tenant).

I'm thinking:

  1. Get 3D/virtual tour (more money needed)
  2. Post advertisement myself (no agent fee - less money)
  3. Try to find investor buyer so tenant don't have to move out. It's hard especially with baby and Christmas coming

Are my ideas possible/make senses?
How likely will I get an investor buyer with just limited inspection? (e.g. I will only make sure they who inspect is really really interested and has fund ready)

Or is it unrealistic/too much hassle and just wait until Christmas passes and let agent handles this?

Poll Options

  • 6
    Go for it
  • 20
    You're nuts
Home & Garden

Comments

  • Seraphin7 on 22/10/2020 - 13:47
    +2

    C'mon, man. You either want to sell it for the most you can reasonably expect, or you want to be a "good landlord". You're not going to get both here.

    By all means you should attempt to discuss and agree an appropriate approach with your tenant, but at the same time it needs to be under the banner of "this is happening and I'm engaging you as a courtesy to attempt to find a solution that we can both work with".

    Selling an investment property while tenanted is going to cause disruption. There's just no way around it. Waiting another 3 months or so to do it is not going to make any material difference to the disruption that will be caused.

  • bazingaa on 22/10/2020 - 13:51
    +5

    Check whether your tenants are willing to buy the property ?

    • frugalman on 22/10/2020 - 15:18
      +1

      this actually is a good idea, thanks. I'll try

  • Tovers93 on 22/10/2020 - 14:17
    +3

    As a tenant in a property that the landlord just sold, the sales process was really disruptive. The landlord can schedule up to inspections 2 visits a week (*best confirm your local rules) and the property should be reasonably clean for each. Luckily we managed to get them just to do 1 a week for 6 consecutive Saturday mornings, as we didn't want inspections in our absence. The extra cleaning, supervision and liaising with the selling agent (who was particularly useless) during COVID times was a lot of effort and disruption. After that, the buyer was demanding pre-settlement inspections, hassling us about maintenance problems and changing letting agents. Not to mention, the selling agent tried insisting the auction take place in a 40m2 apartment, which we outright refused…..All in all a crap experience for tentants.

    Seraphin7 I think has it right in that good landlord and achieving the best return are not far off mutually exclusive.

    Maybe wait until their tenancy expires, have the place looking showroom condition and the extra sales income could exceed the lost rent & hassle.

    • frugalman on 22/10/2020 - 15:25
      +6

      Thanks for the real experience feedback Tovers93 and Seraphin7. They're on month by month lease. We've (me and tenant) been in good relationship, they're a very good tenant, they was there before I bought the property. Property is looked after, minimal complaint, and I gave them few gifts sometimes. And all of this thread came from my past experience as tenant too. Just trying to pay forward.

  • dtxau on 22/10/2020 - 14:27
    +2

    Is this your tenant?

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/574249

  • Jolakot on 22/10/2020 - 14:49
    +1

    Easy answer, let them know your intentions to sell now with permission to break the lease if they wish, and do it after Christmas. Maybe offer a few weeks free rent to make it easier as well, explicitly to compensate for effort incurred in cleaning/inconvenience.

    Don't think of this as you being nice for the sake of it, cooperative tenants can make all the difference, given they're not legally required to do much of anything other than let you through. Afaik there's no laws stopping them from cooking up a storm of stinky food, lighting up some strong scented candles, and taking a messy dump in the bathroom and 'forgetting' to flush 5 minutes before an inspection. Nobody wants to buy something that might smell, not even investors, it's an instant put off that can't be recovered from.

    A few months to prepare with the baby being a bit older will make it easier on them, especially in current times. If they don't want to deal with it then they can move somewhere else, otherwise find out a schedule that works for them and stick to it.

  • Meho2026 on 22/10/2020 - 15:36
    -1

    Its great that you are considering the tenants but the reality is tenants understand that this is a situation that they can find themselves in.
    Owning an investment property should be viewed like running a business, emotion shouldnt influence your actions.
    You are not a charity and didnt buy the property to offer social housing with a conscience. You bought it to increase your wealth and secure your financial future.
    Forget about the baby, do whatever it takes to sell the place quickly and get the best price.

    • Jolakot on 22/10/2020 - 16:24
      +3

      Why is being nice and getting the best price mutually exclusive?

      • Ghost47 on 22/10/2020 - 21:03

        Because landlord.

  • DingoBilly on 22/10/2020 - 15:47
    -3

    Weird - I wouldn't even consider the tenants. They knew what they were up for - as long as you do it legally it's fine.

    • nedski on 22/10/2020 - 16:03
      +6

      Or the OP can continue to be a kind and considerate person to his tenant that has a newborn.

  • AustriaBargain on 22/10/2020 - 16:18
    -5

    How are you going to get it really clean and nicely decorated with her living there. And how are you going to have the place inspected, covid could kill her and her baby.

    Even if she was willing to give it up for a day while decorators pulled her stuff out, cleaned it and put nice stuff in for photos and videos, then swapped it all back before the end of the day. Would anyone pay the full value if they can't inspect it, or if it doesn't look so nice when they do because it smells like baby vomit.

    Also if it's not just about you doing the right thing, if you'd also like to count on her rent whilst you at the same time list it for sale, then the business smart thing to do would be to give her some honeyed words to convince her to work around you.

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