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Selling a Home With a PITA Tenant in Sacramento
A reasonable person would conclude that it’s kinda stupid to turn into a PITA tenant when your landlord is selling your home and you need a future reference, but the odds of running into a reasonable person under these circumstances is kinda slim. I’ve met some wonderfully cooperative tenants in my real estate career but those were primarily the guys I plied with alcohol. There were also a few tenants I didn’t have to bribe, who were kind, considerate and all around super nice people but somebody has probably killed them by now or they moved to Alaska.
I encountered a PITA tenant recently in Fair Oaks. I called to make an appointment to view the home and take photographs because the seller is hiring me to sell his home. It was previously in MLS but did not sell for a variety of reasons, one of which I suspect involved tenant sabotage. I say this because when I called, the tenant was immediately defensive and combative. She argued intensely with me about the photographs, which are owned by the previous agent. She felt they were beautiful — featuring a hamster cage in the middle of the living room floor — and rattled on about how she knows what good real estate photographs are supposed to look like. She carried on like she shot them herself, and maybe she did.
After much complaining by the tenant, I was able to set an appointment for next week. Due to the tenant’s combativeness — to be on the safe side and comply with CA Civil Code 1954a, which gives sellers or their agents the right to show a property for sale with 24 hours notice — I prepared a written Notice of Entry. However, the tenant turned into a screaming lunatic when presented with the document. She has no way to legally refuse entry but my California real estate license does not include going into the home packing heat. Unfortunately, that seller, with a balloon payment looming, now can’t sell his home due to the tenant. The poor guy will probably be forced into short sale territory after the PITA tenant eventually vacates.
I have another home in Lincoln coming up for sale next week. We’ve been trying for several months to list the home for sale but the tenant has refused to cooperate. These tenants are doctors, too. Just goes to show that medical physicians are not exempt from being a PITA tenant. They don’t care about receiving a good recommendation because they are closing a home and no longer need to rent. Their attitude is screw the landlord. They don’t care. Sue ’em. They can afford a judgment.
Sugar and honey doesn’t always work.
That’s the thing about being a busy Sacramento real estate agent. We get an up-close and personal view of the underbelly of society: the PITA tenants. The best way to sell a tenant-occupied home in Sacramento is when it is vacant. Sacramento homes for sale that are vacant are a) easier to show b) show better, and c) they also tend to bring top dollar, which often more than makes up for the vacancy factor.
Selling a Rental Home With a Tenant
Selling a rental home with a tenant is often a PITA. It’s not that I am anti-tenant because many of my short sale clients in Sacramento have turned into temporary tenants. In fact, I myself, in my own crazy life, was many years ago, a tenant. It’s that I am pro-Sacramento real estate ownership. Which is not all that together surprising given the fact that I am a Sacramento real estate broker whose living depends on buying and selling homes, which are mostly occupied by owners. It’s why the National Association of REALTORS is so deadset against the banks bundling truckloads of once owner-occupied homes and selling them in bulk to investors. It dilutes home ownership in neighborhoods. When blocks of owner occupied homes turn into rentals, pride of ownership dissipates and property values tend to diminish.
Still, that doesn’t stop some tenants from behaving as though the home they occupy belongs to them and not to the landlord. I’ve got a Sacramento listing in which the tenants have pretty much trashed the home. It looks like a teenager lives there. Crap from one end to the other. They have also acquired a couple of pets, which are not allowed in their lease. See, this is yet another reason that I am not a landlord. I would hate to tell a person they could not enjoy the company of a pet if he or she wanted to adopt.
The seller is pretty close to closing escrow and we received short sale approval from the bank. This means it’s time for the buyer to do a home inspection. Somehow, the tenants believe they can choose the date and, because the home inspection time period falls outside of a time that the tenants deem to be convenient, that it is the tenant’s right to louse up the seller’s transaction. They don’t want to give the landlord access to the home. They are talking about changing the locks. They accused the owner of purposely putting the home on the market at the wrong time for the tenants. They say they do not trust the landlord to enter her own home. Wha? See? You can’t make this stuff up.
I offer yet another valid reason why many real estate agents are in favor of selling a rental home as a vacant home. The government, in its infinite wisdom, has offered the tenants $3,000 in this HAFA short sale to cooperate. That doesn’t ensure cooperation, though. The fact the new owner will become their landlord doesn’t seem to mean much, either.
Fortunately, not all tenants behave in this manner. I just closed a short sale in the Pocket that was occupied by one of the loveliest tenants I have ever had the pleasure to meet. Robin was polite and sweet. She kept the home immaculate, cooperated with showings and cleaned the home from top to bottom when she moved. Everybody in that transaction would have moved heaven and earth to accommodate Robin’s wishes.
Rest assured, however, that if you need to evict, your Sacramento real estate agent will wait for you. No future sale is that urgent. Think about this before you put your home on the market. If your future buyer will be an investor, selling a home with a tenant in place can be advantageous, but it’s not if the tenant is the tenant from hell. If your future buyer is an owner occupant — and remember that home owners tend to pay more than an investor will pay — a tenant in place is probably not your best move.
