advice on maintence and giving a tenant notice when selling house
FYI, the house in question is a 3/2 and would be priced in 160-180k range. Located in Savannah, Georgia.
I am looking to sell a house soon and would like to get advice on the following two things:
1) The house currently has a rental tenant. We have an ongoing lease and I can give the tenant 45 days to move out at any time. I like the fact that I'm getting monthly rent from the tenant of course. I have a mortgage to pay; I could absorb the hit and pay the mortgage without rent for a few months if I have to, but it's not my first choice. My worst case would be that I make the tenant move out before even putting the house on market, then it takes months for the house to sell with no rent coming in. But I get the impression that 2017 Georgia is a sellers market so maybe having the house take a long time to sell will not be a problem.
On the other hand, I could let the tenant stay during the selling process. The tenant is already aware I am wanting to sell and is okay with this, but once I put a "for sale" sign up, I expect the tenant to start looking for another place. But it might take a month or two for tenant to move on their own. If the tenant is still living there, I'm wondering if having the tenant still in the house might itself discourage prospects from buying - e.g. if I have not given tenant their notice yet, then the prospect would have to wait 45 days to move in. I could wait until I have a contract on the house and then give tenant their 45 day notice. It often takes 30 days to close from the time a contract is offered anyway, so then buyer would only have to wait 15 more days to move in. So I have all these choices, not sure what is best.
2) The house has a lot of old things. Everything works and the tenant is not complaining about anything, but... Roof is at least 25 years old. No leaks but I'm sure a house inspector will tell buyers that they will need to replace the roof sooner rather than later. Water heater is at least 20 yrs old - working fine but again, it's not going to last forever. HVAC is also working fine but fairly old. I'm wondering, generally speaking, how to net the most money from selling this house? I think the roof is going to be the worst thing - should I replace the roof before I even put house on market? Maybe replace water heater too? Or should I sell the house just as it is, knowing the I will probably get lower offers and/or some negotiating and possibly the deal falling through after a house inspection? If I offer to pay for a home warranty for one year for the buyers, will this help?
What are realtors' thoughts if they have had these situations before?