Selling your Kansas City rental house?
When you are a landlord more than likely the time will come when you want or need to sell your Kansas City rental house. When that time comes depending upon your tenants that process might go smooth or become a nightmare. There are usually two types of tenants…affable and nightmarish. When its time for you to sell your Kansas City rental house for your sake I hope your tenants are the former and not the latter.
What happens if your tenants are disagreeable and difficult to work with? If that’s the case you might want to go with the first option listed below.
Timing the sale of your Kansas City rental house
Option 1: Wait
Many landlords get to the point that they want to sell their Kansas City rental home simply because they are tired of dealing with difficult tenants. But what happens if you have those tenants and you want to sell? Even though it sounds like a horrible option, your best bet might be to wait. Wait until the lease is up then list the home. Many landlords decide that their tenants might not be the type of people that will put up with the home selling process so they decide its best to wait until the lease expires.
The problem with that though is that the property will be vacant and vacant homes don’t show nearly as well as homes that are furnished. There’s obviously a way around that though, you could hire a professional home stager.
What if you’re on a tight budget and you want to sell your Kansas City rental? You could only stage a couple of rooms like the kitchen and master bedroom.
You also need to keep in mind that you’re still going to have to make your mortgage payments until the home closes. Keep that in mind and get an estimate on how many months you’ll have to make that payment until it’s sold. Doing this will help you decide if you can afford to wait until the tenants move out.
Option 2: List now
If you do decide to list it now there are a few things to consider. You won’t have to the carrying costs like you would if there were no tenants in the property. The home will already be staged (as long as the tenants keep the property clean and looking nice). It could also be more attractive to other investors. If the tenants want to remain in the home after its sold they are more likely to be cooperative during the sales process. The new buyer could also view this as a positive because they have paying tenants from the get go.
There are disadvantages though.
A furnished home is usually sells easier than an unfurnished home but if the tenants taste in decor isn’t that appealing it could turn off potential buyers.
Has the tenant been taking care of the home? Is the home clean? Does it smell nice when you walk inside? If it’s not clean and hasn’t been taken care of potential buyers may lose interest right away.
Is the tenant going to be open and flexible to allowing the scheduling of showings? If the tenant isn’t agreeable to the showings they could sabotage them by delaying showings, screwing up inspections and generally just not being cooperative.
There are however a few tips to to get your tenants to be cooperative.
Give a free month of rent.
Offer to reduce their rent while the home is being sold.
Offer them a financial incentive each time the home is shown.
Offer to pay their moving costs.
Give them a bonus when the home sells.
Option 3: Sell to a cash buyer
In some situations it might be in your best interest to contact a cash buyer such as PSR Home Buyers when you need to sell your Kansas City rental house. When you sell to a cash buyer you can avoid all of the hassles of having to work around your tenants. Typically cash home buyers only need to look at the property once before they are ready to make an offer. Once they make an offer and everything is agreed upon between you and them, they can typically close fast and you can move on with your life and avoid the headaches of being a landlord.
If you have any questions about listing your home, I’m also a licensed agent in Kansas and Missouri and would be happy to answer any questions. If you’d like to discuss how to sell your Kansas City rental house quick and for cash contact us, we’d be happy to help.