The time has come to reap the rewards of your investment. You have spent years maintaining the property, moving tenants in and out. But now is the time to cash out.

Will this be straightforward? Perhaps you favour listing the house or condo with your tenant in place. On the surface, this makes sense. You will have income during the time that the house is on the market and hopefully someone, perhaps an investor, will just scoop it up. Right?

Unfortunately, usually only multi-family buildings with comprehensive rent rolls sell this way. You should also note that only about 50% of all houses and condos listed on the Edmonton MLS® system actually sell. This includes well prepared homes being sold by their occupants, (see this link for hints on preparation).

In most cases, we would advise you to let the lease run its course, or find some other ethical way to encourage the tenant to leave. Perhaps you could offer them a cash incentive to move out early?

If you don’t, then you face these challenges:

1. You are required by law to give the tenant 24 hours notice before showings. Most buyers won’t wait. They will go onto the next house on their shopping list.

2. We find buyers pay top dollar for staged houses or condos, or at the very least those that have clean kitchens, bathrooms and beds made. Your tenant has no incentive to do these things for you.

Why would they help you make them homeless?

3. The best quality buyers, that is those who will pay you the most money, also want to live in the home and do a minimum of work. Crucially, most also want a quick possession. The law requires that you give your tenants 90 days’ notice to terminate the lease. This could kill your sale.

Our best advice? Wait until:

-          you can offer the house vacant,

-          clean it up and consider staging, (see this link for staging tips)

-          hire competent professionals to sell the house, (see this link for tips on hiring a REALTOR^®)

If you are positioned correctly for the market, you should have your money in 8 to 12 weeks.

Want more information about our discount and flat fee home selling programs? Please feel free to call our broker owner Stuart Neal at: 780-760-2014 ext. 3