Selling a Short Sale Rental in Sacramento

A rental short sale is becoming more ubiquitous. I have several new Sacramento short sales going on the market tomorrow that are occupied by tenants. I suspect part of what is fueling the increase is the new HAFA supplemental issued a few months ago that pays tenants the relocation incentive. This was a brilliant move by the government.

Tenants often worry when an investor decides to sell their rental as a short sale, and with good reason. They might be uprooted. Nobody wants to move against his or her will. That rental is a home to a tenant. A tenant doesn’t want strangers traipsing through. They feel inconvenienced and rightly so because they are inconvenienced. I try to be very respectful of tenants and tenants rights when I list a rental property. Because selling a rental property is an intrusion for the tenants.

Sometimes, tenants refuse to cooperate. I’ve met the guy in the rolled up t-shirt with a pack of cigarettes stuck in his sleeve — the guy who is holding back the barking pitbull by the choke collar and won’t open the screen door. But I still have to take photographs of every listing and complete my agent visual inspection. I can sense from the body language of some tenants that they are not happy with my presence. I try to be understanding as I step over the garbage strewn about on the floor, wondering if they dumped it there for my benefit or if that’s how they live.

Tenants also worry the home will go to foreclosure and they’ll get evicted. Yet, tenants in foreclosure have rights, too. Even so, sometimes they stop paying rent, although they’re not supposed to. See, even if the landlord doesn’t pay the mortgage, the tenant still owes the landlord the rent, whether or not they like it. However, not every Sacramento short sale is in foreclosure. Some landlords keep their payments current during the short sale. Some pay just enough to keep the home out of the pre-foreclosure process.

A tenant in Hollywood Park last night was not eager to show the home. He wished the seller would have waited a few weeks, but the fall season is here and the time to sell is now. Once October is over, our home selling season in Sacramento slows down. It’s a seasonal thing. He wouldn’t let me put on a lockbox. He refused to give me a time to show. I kept talking. Then, finally, as I was preparing to leave the home, he paused in the doorway and said, “Look, I know you’re just doing your job. You’ve been very professional. Why don’t we show the home on Saturday, from noon to 2 PM?”

Bingo. That’s what I came to get. A showing time without buyers having to make an appointment. Buyer’s agents don’t like to make appointments with tenants. That’s because they’ve had the experience of showing up at the appointment time with buyers in tow and nobody is home. But in today’s entry-level real estate market in Sacramento, a few hours of showing is all the time a seller probably needs to get that home sold. Well, that, and a competent Sacramento real estate agent.