Selling Rental Property

[Sparkplug]

I dislike being a landlord, so I'm putting the house on the market.

The renter is an a** and thinks he knows everything and is very chauvinistic. We have let the current lease expire so it is a month to month.

My question is - should I give him the 30 day notice and get him out before listing the property or offer him an incentive of money if he willingly works with the realtor?

 

[tigershoops31]

I dislike being a landlord, so I'm putting the house on the market.

The renter is an a** and thinks he knows everything and is very chauvinistic. We have let the current lease expire so it is a month to month.

My question is - should I give him the 30 day notice and get him out before listing the property or offer him an incentive of money if he willingly works with the realtor?

I'd give him the 30 day notice and get him out first. Knowing you're selling it he probably isn't going to be a real asset (no pun intended) in your showing it, and you should never underestimate what a pissed off tenant is capable of. Is it a place in Ames?

 

[Sparkplug]

[QUOTE="tigershoops31, post: 5716927,

Is it a place in Ames?[/QUOTE]

No, an acreage in Warren County.

 

[cyson]

I concur. Do it right according to code wherever the home is located. Provide some type of incentive for him to work with you.

 

[cytech]

It will depend on who you are targeting the home for, if you think it will be owner occupied you would probably be best to send him packing and have the home empty. If you think the person buying the property will also rent it out, then you may be better off having him on something longer than a month to month lease. So your prospective buyer doesn't have to look for a new renter right away.

Another option for you is to hire a property management company to deal with the renters and to collect rents so you don't have to deal with the headache.

 

[Cyclonepride]

I dislike being a landlord, so I'm putting the house on the market.

The renter is an a** and thinks he knows everything and is very chauvinistic. We have let the current lease expire so it is a month to month.

My question is - should I give him the 30 day notice and get him out before listing the property or offer him an incentive of money if he willingly works with the realtor?

Proper notice, then list the property. I'm guessing it will need some work too, and I wouldn't want to necessarily list it as is. Things seem to be selling really, really fast, so what's the harm in an extra month or two to get it ready and not have to deal with the potential hassles?

 

[cycloneworld]

As a landlord with 20 units, here are my recommendations if you are trying to sell this to another investor:

1. In our leases, we are allowed to place the residence up for sale and the tenant must keep the place "show ready" with proper notice. What does your lease agreement say?
2. Unless you REALLY can't work with this guy, I'd highly encourage keeping him as a tenant (as long as he pays rent on time) during the sale process. It looks much better to prospective buyers if there is a well paying tenant in place.
3. Give him the proper notice and try to find someone else before you sell the place. If a property manager is involved, they can take upwards of 1 month's rent for tenant placement and this might detour potential buyers or lower your ultimate sales price.

If you are trying to sell it to an owner occupier, it might be best to remove the tenant and clean up the place to show. But 95% of the time, properties show better when someone is living there (or it is properly staged).

 

[bpmdu]

You should absolutely go 30 day notice. Cities in Iowa bend over backwards for renters in creating laws to protect them. It's what got me out of the rental property market. Too many regulations from the city and too difficult to get problem tenants out of your house before it's destroyed.

 

[cycloneworld]

You should absolutely go 30 day notice. Cities in Iowa bend over backwards for renters in creating laws to protect them. It's what got me out of the rental property market. Too many regulations from the city and too difficult to get problem tenants out of your house before it's destroyed.

Actually, Iowa has made it EASIER to remove bad tenants. Most of the time it can be done in 14 days or less.

As for the destroying part...that can definitely be true.

 

[bpmdu]

Actually, Iowa has made it EASIER to remove bad tenants. Most of the time it can be done in 14 days or less.

As for the destroying part...that can definitely be true.

It entirely depends on the level of renter and if there's a government subsidy payment. We eventually had to replace our lower rental properties in an effort to avoid (I'm blanking on what Cedar Rapids called it atm) but essentially Section 8. Most of those tenants were not allowed to be emergency evicted from rentals even if they stopped making payments and trashed the place. They even let one tenant remain for another 30 days despite having the water shut off because they stopped paying the water dept.
I also got tired of countless calls from potential renters who inevitably had 30 dogs and 15 cats.

 

[cyson]

I've had good success with rentals and renters for twenty plus years. Throughly screen on the front end. Never accept any money without a completed and signed application with contactable references. Have all parties sign a lease detailing expectations for both tenant and landlord. Check in with notice, pick rent up at unit, fix what needs fixed. Only situation where I've bought large ticket items and someone else paid for them.

 

[mywayorcyway]

2. Unless you REALLY can't work with this guy, I'd highly encourage keeping him as a tenant (as long as he pays rent on time) during the sale process. It looks much better to prospective buyers if there is a well paying tenant in place.

If you are trying to sell it to an owner occupier, it might be best to remove the tenant and clean up the place to show. But 95% of the time, properties show better when someone is living there (or it is properly staged).

I side with this person. When we're looking at properties, we already want them rented to someone with a solid history. It's the first thing we ask for. If the rental history has any red flags, we don't even look at the property.

 

[Sparkplug]

I think he has taken care of the property.

The rent is always 5-10 days late. He pays games by putting the wrong address on the envelope, make the check out to my spouse and I when we have asked him to make it out to me since I do the banking, etc.

Every month I get a disconnect notice for the water bill and every other month a notice for the light bill.

The realtor that I contacted knows him and worked with him at UPS until he got tired for stealing.

 

[tigershoops31]

I think he has taken care of the property.

The rent is always 5-10 days late. He pays games by putting the wrong address on the envelope, make the check out to my spouse and I when we have asked him to make it out to me since I do the banking, etc.

Every month I get a disconnect notice for the water bill and every other month a notice for the light bill.

The realtor that I contacted knows him and worked with him at UPS until he got tired for stealing.

Yeah that can be a real hassle. I have rented my old place out to some ag students for the past 5 years and I've enjoyed it, but one kid has his part of the rent late every month and 4-5 times the check has bounced. It's a big enough pain when it's only a part of the rent payment, I'm sure it's multiplied with him being the lone renter.

Somebody else mentioned I believe but would there be a property manager around that could handle payments/interactions with your tenant for you in the area? My buddy rents his house out through Hunziker and swears he would never go back. I think he said they charge 6% of the monthly rent for their fee, and he can write that off. Might be worth looking at too if you're wanting to sell mainly because of a bum tenant.

 

[Sparkplug]

Sent the termination of lease letter by certified mail today. Wish me luck that this person doesn't decide to be a complete a**

 

[khardbored]

I can't speak on behalf of those who are investors looking to buy a rental property, but I can speak as a regular Joe wanting to buy a house.

In Fall 2015 we bought our house (to live in). It was a rental house. The tenant seemed real nice, even was there and I met him during the home inspection. The owner gave him the proper legal notice and everything (and the house had a "for sale" sign in the yard for 8+ months, so not like it was a surprise). With about 5 days to go before closing, he turned into an #$%^&! seemingly out of the blue and refused to move out on the agreed upon date. Almost derailed the whole deal, screwed up my family's plans (we had things timed out very particularly, moving trucks, etc.) etc.

We did close eventually get to move in about 10 days behind schedule (I believe the owner had a lawyer come knock on the door) and the tenant caved, but he moved out in a big hurry, left a decent sized mess, screwed up the kitchen sink trying to take the faucet with him (which he claimed was his).

I vowed to never again buy a home that has a tenant living in while it's on the market. Just my view. I think getting him out in advance was smart.

 

[SCNCY]

I can't speak on behalf of those who are investors looking to buy a rental property, but I can speak as a regular Joe wanting to buy a house.

In Fall 2015 we bought our house (to live in). It was a rental house. The tenant seemed real nice, even was there and I met him during the home inspection. The owner gave him the proper legal notice and everything (and the house had a "for sale" sign in the yard for 8+ months, so not like it was a surprise). With about 5 days to go before closing, he turned into an #$%^&! seemingly out of the blue and refused to move out on the agreed upon date. Almost derailed the whole deal, screwed up my family's plans (we had things timed out very particularly, moving trucks, etc.) etc.

We did close eventually get to move in about 10 days behind schedule (I believe the owner had a lawyer come knock on the door) and the tenant caved, but he moved out in a big hurry, left a decent sized mess, screwed up the kitchen sink trying to take the faucet with him (which he claimed was his).

I vowed to never again buy a home that has a tenant living in while it's on the market. Just my view. I think getting him out in advance was smart.

The house I bought was a rental too, but the tenant had moved out prior to me viewing the house, so I knew what to expect. In fact, the tenant was the brother of my next door neighbor who tried to sell the house 12 years earlier. She then brokered a deal to have her brother move in.

Any way, to my question, did the seller fix anything that the tenant broke? I would think that before closing, you would have done a final walk through to ensure that the house was in the condition as you first viewed it.

 

[khardbored]

The house I bought was a rental too, but the tenant had moved out prior to me viewing the house, so I knew what to expect. In fact, the tenant was the brother of my next door neighbor who tried to sell the house 12 years earlier. She then brokered a deal to have her brother move in.

Any way, to my question, did the seller fix anything that the tenant broke? I would think that before closing, you would have done a final walk through to ensure that the house was in the condition as you first viewed it.

Yeah, I was telling the abbreviated version of the story, so left out this detail: since everything was behind schedule, we did do a quick-and-dirty walk-though and noticed the sink problem, a missing ceiling fan, and a couple other minor things. The tenant didn't trash the place, he was just careless. The owner offered to give me $500 to use for any renovations of my choosing if I would move in anyhow. I accepted.

(This also showed me a potential pitfall of renting -- don't allow the tenant to exchange "work for rent." That's what caused him to take the faucet and the ceiling fan with him, the tenant felt like since he installed them and [presumably?] bought them, he was entitled to take them with them, even though he added those things as upgrades in lieu of rent. There was nothing in writing so it was his word vs. the owners, as my understanding goes.)

 

[isu22andy]

Kick him out and find a new landlord . I garuntee you could have 20 people in a line to rent that place since it's an acreage . Look at a for rent ad on Facebook . It's insane ...

 

[Sparkplug]

Just as I expected - refused to sign for the certified letter. I'll hire a deputy to serve them.