Can I Sell A House With Tenants In It?

Yes. Your tenant doesn’t have to be out before you sell.

Most people who call me about a rental have it backwards. They think step one is getting the tenant out, and step two is selling the house. So they put off the whole thing for months because step one is the part nobody wants to do.

You can skip it. I buy them occupied.

What “I buy it occupied” actually means

Tenant’s still in there. Their furniture’s still in there. Whatever lease is on it comes with the house.

You don’t serve anybody a notice. You don’t file an eviction. You don’t have the uncomfortable conversation with somebody who’s lived in your house for six years. If that’s the part you’ve been dreading, you can hand it to me and it stops being your problem at closing.

I don’t need the place empty, I don’t need it cleaned, and I don’t need the tenant to agree to anything before we have a deal.

Does a tenant change your offer?

Yes. Of course it does.

I’m taking on whatever comes next and I don’t know yet how it goes. That’s risk, and risk comes out of the offer. It isn’t personal and it isn’t a negotiating tactic — it’s the same math any buyer runs.

If somebody tells you occupancy makes no difference to their price, they’re either not telling you the truth or they haven’t thought about it. Either one should worry you.

How much it moves the number depends on what I’m dealing with — a tenant paying market rent on a current lease is a very different situation from one who stopped paying in June.

If you want to see exactly how I get to a number, I’ve written the whole thing out.

What happens to the tenant after you sell?

It depends on the house, and I’ll tell you straight which one it is before you sign anything.

If I’m keeping it as a rental and they’re paying market rent and they’re in good standing, they stay. Nothing changes for them. That’s the best outcome for everybody and it’s the one I’d rather have.

If they’re paying under market, the rent goes to market. They can take it or they can go.

If the house needs real work, or I’m flipping it, I need it empty. Cash for keys is always my first move — I’d rather pay somebody to leave on good terms than go through a court. Most of the time that works. When it doesn’t, I evict. I’m not going to dress that up.

If keeping that tenant housed matters to you, say so early. It changes which houses I’d rather buy, and it’s worth knowing before we’re at the closing table.

What if they’ve stopped paying, or I’ve already filed?

I’ll still buy it.

That’s a worse house for me and the number reflects it, but it isn’t a deal killer. A tenant who hasn’t paid since the spring, a case that’s already been filed, somebody who won’t let anybody in to look — that’s the kind of thing I already know how to handle. It’s most of what lands in my inbox.

You don’t have to finish it before you call me. Finishing it is usually the expensive way to get where you’re going.

And if they leave the place full of their things, that isn’t a problem either.

What I won’t tell you

I won’t tell you what to do about your tenant.

I’m not an attorney. Whether to give notice, what kind, how much, whether you’re inside the lease or outside it — a landlord-tenant attorney answers that, and they’ll have read your actual lease. I haven’t. Anybody in my business who answers it confidently is guessing with your money.

What I can tell you is that you don’t have to solve it before you call me.

When you shouldn’t sell to me

A cash offer comes in below retail. That’s the trade — price for speed and certainty.

If the house is in good shape, the tenant is paying market rent and they’re in good standing, that’s a clean rental with a paying tenant in it. There are investors who will pay close to retail for exactly that, and listing it may well net you more. I’m a licensed Florida agent, so I can say it out loud: sometimes the right move is the MLS, not me.

Where I’m usually the better answer is when the house needs work, when the tenant has stopped paying, when you’ve already started down the eviction road, or when you’re just done being a landlord and want it finished.

What happens if you call

You send me the address and tell me who’s in it.

I come walk it myself — I’ve been buying houses in Hillsborough and Pinellas since 2015 and I’ve walked more than a thousand of them. I buy across Tampa Bay. If the tenant won’t let anybody in, we work around it; I’ve bought houses I’ve only seen from the curb and priced for the unknown.

You get a number. No inspection period, because I’ve already been inside. We pay the closing costs and you pick the date.

Then you do whatever you want with that number. Including nothing.

And before you take any cash offer — on this house or any other — it’s worth knowing who you’re actually talking to: How do I tell a wholesaler from a real investor?

A lot of these are rentals somebody inherited and never wanted.

This is general information about how these sales usually work in Florida, not legal advice. Every lease and every tenancy is its own thing — talk to an attorney about yours.

Send me the address and I’ll tell you what I’d pay

Call or text Mike: 813-200-7665
A+ Home Buyers · TMWRK Brokerage LLC
aplushomebuyer.com