For those of you who may be considering selling a property with a tenant in situ, you may want to revisit this idea, if your tenants are anything like the ones I've come across when inspecting on behalf of my clients. Recent examples which are enough to put off even the most patient buyers: 1. An inner city tenant who only allows inspections once a week, on a weeknight at precisely 5pm. Helltime not only for buyers (and us BA's!) but also not great for REA's. No wonder this place is still for sale, after several months. 2. A tenant who really makes it obvious that he doesn't want to leave and does his utmost to deter buyers, telling them the faults of the house (pointing out bathroom leaks, rising damp and seemingly endless repairs that need doing) as well as pointing out how lazy the landlord has been with maintenance. This tenant also did nothing to clean up but instead had an assortment of very smelly beasts living in the property with him. (including a tank of assorted reptiles!) Stinky all round 3. The tenant who simply doesn't bother to be home when the REA calls, sans key (naturally!). After this occurs over a no. of times, the disgruntled owner finally decides to do what he should have done weeks ago and gives notice to the tenant, who's obviously suffering from temporary amnesia. So, folks, if you have a great tenant who is keeping the place neat and tidy and allowing access of a fairly frequent nature during the sale, then do the right thing and either reduce their rent for the period or send them a nice gift basket. They are a rare breed
It is very short sighted of the owners to keep tenants in place. What time is involved in the process 3 months by the time the property settles. So we are talking maybe $4800 on a property worth $600k, basically negligable against the selling price. The only time its not negligable is if they bought at the wrong price and are taking a hit, but then that just indicates the inexperience allround. Cheers
That's a very valid point, Handy, and I agree with you. After all, the owner shouldn't be worried about the tenant at all, as the property is going to be sold one way or the other. I guess in the circumstance where the vendor is merely "testing" the market (as I have done with some Qld properties) then it makes sense to retain the tenants.
