So you’ve decided that being a landlord isn’t right for you, or it’s not profitable enough – that’s okay! In this article we’ll explain the entire process of selling a tenant occupied home in California.
Types of Real Estate Sales for Tenant Occupied Homes
Before selling your rental property that’s tenant occupied you should be aware of each type of sale option you have available:
Don’t worry if you don’t understand each of these options, we’ll cover each of them as we continue on.
Traditional Real Estate Market
The first option we’ll cover is one that many of us are already familiar with and that is the traditional real estate market. Traditional real estate market sales are when the landlord sells the property through a real estate agent/broker through various platforms like Zillow or the MLS.
This step might seem like the easiest solution to get a quick sale however, it’s often not when it’s a tenant occupied property – you have just a few more hoops to jump through before you can sell your California rental property.
Traditional Sales: Pros & Cons
There are a few pros and cons to selling your tenant occupied property in California but here are the biggest ones to consider:
Pros:
- House has a larger market and audience
- You don’t need to handle communication between to the buyer
Cons:
- You will pay more on closing costs
- You will pay a percentage of the sale to the real estate agent / escrow
- You will pay for legal fees for a lawyer for the eviction process
- You will need to evict the tenant
- You will need to make any home repairs unless selling as-is
Eviction Process
Before selling your property on the public real estate market you must first serve up a notice to your tenants as required by the state of california. These notices can be a 30 day notice for any tenant that has lived in the house or property less than one year and a 60 day notice for any tenants who have been in the house or property for longer than one year.
The eviction process can be brutal and take a lot of time and sometimes we just don’t have that time. If this is you, then please continue and read on for your other (quicker) options.
PS: We wrote an entire article on selling a California rental home with bad tenants be sure to read that article for more on the process of eviction
To save you some time, you should know that it’s often the fastest and most efficient method to sell your home for cash to Osborne Homes. We’ll deal with the eviction process so you don’t have to worry about it!
For Sale By Owner
The next sales solution is to sell your rental property privately either on the public market or through other marketing solutions. This method is best for anyone who is in no rush to sell their property and wants to maximize their sales profits. However, just like the traditional sales method there are some pros and cons.
For Sale By Owner: Pros & Cons
It wouldn’t be fair to say that for sale by owner (FSBO) is better or worse than traditional sales, however you should consider these pros and cons and make your own judgments.
Pros:
- Selling the property is on your own terms
- You can set your own prices and make your own negotiations
- You have access to tools that some realtors don’t
- You can sell the property as is to anyone for cash or with a conventional mortgage
- You don’t have to pay realtor fees
- Closing costs can be less
Cons:
- If repairs are needed you likely cannot negotiate with someone who has an FHA-backed mortgage loan
- A lot of realtors will discourage their buyers from buying a FSBO owner
- Buyers tend to look at FSBO homes as “fixer uppers”
- You will get a lot of low-ball offers
- Buyers tend to back out much more without written offers/agreements
Sell your California Rental Home for FAST Cash to Osborne Homes Today!
If you’ve decided that being a landlord just isn’t worth it and you are at a loss, sell your home to Osborne Homes today! We’ll deal with bad tenants so you don’t have to.
Tenant Lease Buyout
The next sales method is a tenant lease buyout. This is a perfect sales method if you have a great relationship with your tenant and should always be discussed before any eviction notices.
A tenant lease buyout is when the seller offers the tenant (the buyer) a first chance offer at the home prior to eviction. A lease buyout works differently than selling the home as FSBO and on the traditional market because you are offering the tenant the remainder of the lease / mortgage that you still owe in exchange for the property.
You can still set terms such as we owe $120,000 on the mortgage and the property is worth $240,000 so we will sell the property to you (tenant) for $200,000. You are offering the rent that they’ve put towards the mortgage as equity and offering them a discount on the appraised value while still adding in buffer room for you to walk out with some extra income.
Unlike traditional and FSBO there are far fewer pros and cons.
Tenant Lease Buyout: Pros & Cons
As we’ve just mentioned there are far fewer pros and cons to look at here but it’s still important to see them before pulling the California rental home sales trigger.
Pros:
- Tenant can close quicker than the average buyer in FSBO & traditional
- Tenant doesn’t need an inspection (unless they want it)
- Mortgage will likely be cheaper for the tenant than rent was and you have the authority to back your tenants payment history to different lenders
Cons:
- You may still need to make repairs to the home if the tenant requests them
- Tenant will not always be able to get a mortgage
- Tenant may offer you an even lower amount based on the rent equity they’ve put into the home
Off Market Private Sales
The last option and one that we deem the best for anyone who is just done with rental homes and wants to get out fast and still make decent returns without having to worry about eviction processes or any fees and delays – that is the off market private sales method.
The off market private sales strategy is when the landlord sells your tenant occupied rental property to Osborne Homes as-is without any repairs needed for fast cash. There are a lot of benefits to doing this and with only a few cons.
Off Market Private Sales: Pros & Cons
There are fewer cons when selling your rental property to a company like Osborne Homes. Here we’ll cover some of the biggest pros and cons to consider.
Pros:
- Fast cash without having to wait and measure different market offers
- You won’t pay closing costs
- There are far less contingencies
- You don’t have to worry about eviction and bad tenants
- You don’t need to make any repairs
Cons:
- Offers can be less than traditional market sales, FSBO or tenant lease buyouts
All Sales Strategies Pros & Cons
In this section we’ll wrap up with a complete pros and cons list of all the sales strategies to give you a better visual overview of the better sales methods for you.
| Feature: | Traditional Sales | FSBO | Tenant Lease Buyout | Off Market Sales |
| Cons | ||||
| You Evict | X | X | ||
| Realtor Fees | X | |||
| You Make Home Repairs | X | ? | ? | |
| Pros | ||||
| Highest Offers | X | |||
| Closes Fast | X | X | ||
| Cash Offers Most Likely | X | X |
If you’re ready to sell your California rental home, give us a call today! (559-500-3610) or send us an email at info@osbornehomes.com.
Sell your California Rental Home for FAST Cash to Osborne Homes Today!
If you’ve decided that being a landlord just isn’t worth it and you are at a loss, sell your home to Osborne Homes today! We’ll deal with bad tenants so you don’t have to.
