Putting Your Vacant Rental Home on the Market? 3 Steps To Be Prepared

The news has been all positive for home sellers.  And some of you have been ready to sell some of your rental homes for the last 5 years!  

 

The thought equation about selling your rental home looks like this:

 

Desire to Sell + Rapidly Improving Market + Now Vacant Rental Home = Time To Go To Market?

 

That is the big question.  If the answer is “I think so!”, here are the next steps.

 

Talk to your property manager and have them run some comparables on your property.  If it is determined that you have the room (difference between your rental home’s value and loan balance) to walk away from a sale with a profit (or an acceptable loss), you may decide you want to make a go at it.

 

If this is your situation, how do you prepare?   Here are 3 easy steps:

 

1.  Make sure you have the needed liquidity (cash) - Part 1: You’ll need to fix up your home to market standards.  This may include a new paint job, new carpet, professional cleaning, and any other needed repairs.

 

2.  Liquidity- Part 2: You should have a minimum of 4 to 6+ months of mortgage, HOA dues, lawn care, and utility payments at your disposal so everyone still gets paid during this time of vacancy.  Unfortunately, you won’t have a tenant making the payments for you while it’s vacant on the market.

 

3.  Decide what your boundaries are:

A.  What is the lowest price you are willing to sell for (your property manager can help you factor in what your selling costs are)?

B.  How long are you willing to wait to sell it before going back to the rental market?

 

Once these 3 criteria are considered and you are comfortable with them, it is time to go to market and trust the marketing prowess of your property manager.  Then a new equation emerges:

 

Fixed-up home + Competitive Price + Funds Necessary to Execute the Sales Strategy = Sales Success!

 

Selling a rental home is a process that takes time and money.  Successful execution depends on having the necessary resources and patience to see it through.  Good luck!      

 

Brett Furniss is President & Owner of BDF Realty (Charlotte Residential Property Management), the trusted real estate advisor for Charlotte landlords, managing single-family homes, Uptown condos, and town homes in the Charlotte-Metro Area.   BDF Realty’s services include property management, home fix-ups, and home sales, including Rent-To-Sell (“When You Need a New Solution to Sell Your Home”).  His newest book is A Real Estate Agent’s Complete Guide to Representing Rent-To-Own (Lease Option) Tenants (Delight Clients, Fill Vacant Homes, and Earn $2,250* Upfront! (*Minimum!) which is available on-line now.