How do you show Owner occupied house to buyers!

Question

Hi. I currently have a house under contract. It's owner occupied (tenant living in the house). How could I show the house to buyers?

Joyce Hall · Answer

This is so timely for me. In January, I asked a real estate agent to check out my rental property as a possible listing and the tenants gave notice a few days later. They decided they couldn't live with as few as 2 showings a week. Turned out to be a blessing because the house will show better without those particular tenants.

Is this a property that someone will be buying for an investment? If so then I think you can do 1. or 2. as Bill listed above. The investor might not mind seeing the tenants in the property. I wouldn't. In fact, the tenants might have information about the property that I'd find helpful (plumbing is always breaking, can't keep the house warm, etc.). If they're nice responsible people, it might help me to make a positive decision for that property over another.

If your potential buyers want it to live in, I would only show it while the tenants are out of the property. Maybe you can find out when they are normally out of the house and schedule showings then?

There is the risk that buyers might feel they can't check it out thoroughly when someone is home.

Bill Gulley · Answer

1. By appointment with the occupant gone.

2. By appointment with the occupant there, but told to give you privacy.

3. By appointment with the occupant following you around.

4. By walking in without an appointment and getting thrown out.

I'd take it in that order. Good luck :)

Richard C. · Answer

The are owner-occs of a house he is wholesaling. Landlord rights do not apply.

So how do you do it? Respectfully, with an explanation that it is in their best interests to cooperate if they want the option exercised and the house sold.

And I hope you hear what Bill Gulley is saying, and aren't claiming that you are a final buyer with "partners" as opposed to a wholesaler selling an option.

Brie Schmidt · Answer

In IL as the landlord I can enter the property for any reason with 48 hour notice. If they are in the final 30 days of the lease I can enter with 24 hour notice. You may want to check their lease.

In order to avoid bothering them all the time we do open house type events. we block off 2-3 hour periods and do multiple showings. this has been the easiest on everybody involved.

Bill Gulley · Answer

Put your understandings of showing the property in an addendum or in your contract. This is part up being up front in dealing with the seller. Appointments being made with notice, reasonable times not being unreasonably denied, for a period of time of one hour as an example. You might try to use an open house concept, an afternoon where you can line up buyers.

The reason you don't want the buyer there is not because they will cut you out but because they talk too much, they get in the way, they join in trying to sell the place and they often screw things up. If they must be there ask them for privacy, meet them chat a minute then take your buyer on to inspect the place. Ask you buyer to take notes or take pics so you can talk about matters away from the property not in front of the seller. You need to take control of the showing.

Since you have a list of buyers before you ever put the place under contract and told the seller about these known buyers you should have no issue making appointments to show.

It gets harder if a seller is given a line of junk about partners having to approve the purchase, they begin to ask how many partners you have. BS will catch up with you, so make it clear what's going on. :)

Wayne Brooks · Answer

You need to clarify that with the owner when you sign the contract.

Thanh Nguyen · Answer

How do you schedule for the tenant gone with like number of buyers? I cant imagine that tenant accept showing the house every single day for new buyers.

How do you show Owner occupied house to buyers!

How do you show Owner occupied house to buyers!

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