Considerations When Selling Your Property

With the upturn in the real estate market many property owners have contacted Real Property Management with questions about selling the property, which we manage. Selling a property that is tenant occupied can be a tricky endeavor. Having the right team and plan in place can eliminate the common mistakes that derail sales transactions and ultimately make the transaction more profitable and seamless for you. Having tenants in possession while putting a property on the market increases the complexity of the sales process dramatically. Tenants who are cooperative in the sales process can actually help the property sale faster and for a higher price, while uncooperative tenants can delay the process or in some cases even sabotage transactions. Tenant cooperation is essential to schedule showings, have the property in showable condition, and avoid offering unsolicited negative information about the property during showings. All of these situations have caused properties to sit on the market longer than necessary or in some cases fall out of escrow.

There are a few simple steps you can take that will greatly reduce the probability of these tenant related issues during the sales process.

1. Contact Real Property Management prior to signing a listing agreement with a selling agent. Our experience has shown that if we communicate with the tenants before the process starts that the probability of their cooperation throughout the process improves dramatically.

2. Hire a listing agent that understand the delicate nuances of tenants and has a proven track record with these types of listings. We can provide a list of qualified agents in this area upon request.

3. Allow Real Property Management to introduce your listing agent to the tenants and establish the ground rules between the listing agent and the tenants for the showings, open houses, inspections, etc.

4. Be prepared to offer a financial incentive to the tenants during the selling process. The process does require time and effort on their part and it goes a long way to gaining cooperation when their efforts are rewarded monetarily.

While Real Property Management is a fully licensed brokerage, we focus on the management side of the real estate business and do not list homes for sale, but want to make sure that the process goes as seamlessly as possible whenever it makes sense for you to put your property on the market.

If you are thinking of listing your investment property on the market to sell, please call me first at 310-535-2150 and we can put a plan together for the successful marketing and sales of your property that considers the complexities involving tenants in the process.

Michael Adkins

RPM California Coast