Buying Properties Already Occupied

[Joseph T.]

What are some of the pros and cons of buying an occupied vs unoccupied property?

The pros I can think of is you don't have to spend time marketing and showing the property. You are immediately generating income.

The cons would be getting an "untrained" tenant that may be used to having things go their way instead of what's outlined by the landlord. 

What do you think?

Note: I'm speaking of a smaller multi-family or single home. 4-plex or less. 

[Mark Bookhagen]

You hit the two main points. My take is that it depends if the property is "underperforming" or not. If it is underperforming, you'd like it occupied with month to month leases or vacant.  That way you can see which tenants are causing the underperformance and get them out (while keeping the good ones). If it is performing well, I'd like it to be occupied with reasonable lease terms and rent rates.