Thinking about selling your investment property? Have you given any thought to whether you should keep your tenants whilst selling? Or should the property be vacated? Many of our clients who own investment properties face this dilemma. They are often unsure whether it is best to sell the property whilst it is tenanted, or vacant.
To help you understand which decision is best for your personal circumstances, let us discuss both sides of the fence.
Should I keep my tenants?
In short, it depends on your situation. To start off, we need to discuss one of the most important issues. Money, money, money. Clearly, by removing your tenants from the property and ceasing their contractual obligation to pay you rent, there is the cost of losing this income. As an investor, is this an opportunity cost you are comfortable with? For how long can you afford to not be earning rental income? For some, your rental income could be your livelihood and could heavily sway your decision to keep your tenants, or not.
Have you considered that another property investor could be interested in the property? By leaving your tenants in the property, you’re able to showcase the earning potential and return on investment for the property. A big selling point when it comes to selling the property to other investors.
Should I vacate my investment property?
Firstly, by electing to have the property vacant, this removes one of the substantial obstacles faced by property owners selling their investment property – booking times for open for inspections. Often, when your property is tenanted, tenants can be rigid and rarely available, leaving fewer options for selling agents to show the property to prospective buyers.
One of the factors to be weary of with leaving tenants in the property, is the condition that the property is left in before any open for inspections or personal showings with prospective buyers. Your property manager will always provide notice to your tenants and will always turn up to the property earlier than the buyer, however your property will never be in better condition than the condition the professional cleaners leave it in.
Want to speak to an expert?
Just as we wrote earlier, each investor’s personal situation is different. What works for one, will not work for all. Our team of real estate sales and property management experts specialise in providing this kind of expertise to our clients. Speak with one of our expert property managers today. Call us on (02) 8507 2444.