Selling House - With Tenants or Empty?
First time poster but long time reader. I wanted to get advice from folks who have more experience than me on a question I have about selling a rental in Baltimore City (Patterson Park / Canton area).
A little background on the house. I purchased it in 2007 as a primary residence and rented out the other bedrooms (3BR/2.5BA rowhouse). In 2013 my wife and I moved out of Baltimore to San Diego and kept the house as a rental since the market still wasn't great in the area. Since 2013 we've had the same tenants in there and they have been great. They pay every month and don't cause any issues.
Since the market came around we decided to list the house just this past April 2017 since Baltimore isn't a place I really want to be invested. Also, the numbers as a rental don't work great. The house had interest but my real estate agent mentioned many times that the house wasn't selling because of the tenants (they are on a month to month lease at this point). Most people looking at the house are going to be living in it rather than investors looking to keep the current tenants in there. So fast forward to now and the house is still on the market with only one low offer after 6 months. My agent has sold other similar houses on the next block and priced similarly and thinks that the only reason it's not selling is because of the tenants. They do require 24 hour notice to show the place and also are a bit difficult with my agent in terms of showings. Also, they didn't want a lock box which I understand, so my agent has to meet all potential buyers and their agents at the house to do showings.
This leads me to my question. I'm planning to pull it off the market for winter and then in the spring will re-list the house. Do you think I should give the tenants notice and have the house empty when I re-list it? My obvious issue with this is that I'd be losing $1,500/month in rent while not guaranteeing it's going to sell quickly, if at all. Also, we did try to get the tenants to purchase the property but they just aren't interested in buying a place.
Thanks for any advice you have.