If tenants wants to buy, how do I handle RE agent?

[Villanelle]

I notified an agent we know and trust, and who I've been chatting with for a couple weeks, that we have decided to move forward with selling out rental property. I told the property manager (who I think was bent we didn't want to list with her) and asked her to notify the tenants that we wont' be renewing, and also to let them know that they have permission to break the lease at any time if they find something else.  (Lease is up June 30; plan is to list on about May 31, but if they are out earlier, that's more than fine.)

Tenants are 3 single guy roommates, so I figured there was no chance they'd want to buy, but PM emailed that she has notified them and they want to know asking price because they (or one of them?) is interested in buying.

We hadn't settled on a firm price with the agent.  He hasn't been inside yet, and since we aren't listing for a few months, we agreed it was silly to firm up a price right now when that could change.  The plan was for him to arrange with the PM to get in to see the place, and we'd discuss asking price then, but still not set anything until closer to listing.

We have not signed anything with him.

I don't want to screw him, but if the tenants buy, I don't think he's necessarily earned 2.5% (of the 5% commission), either.  He's certainly entitled to something (this is assuming he facilitates the inspection, paperwork, etc., especially since I'm am a few thousand miles away.).

I'm at a loss with how to proceed.  I live on the other side of the country and am only semi-familiar with prices there.  I'd like his guidance on what to ask, but again, not if it is going to cost me 2.5%.  Should I let him know the tenant expressed interest, ask if he's willing to visit and help me settle on a price to quote them, and just ask him how his commission works if we sell to this person without listing, and see what he offers?  Or should throw out a number myself.  "If we sell to them and you facilitate the sale and closing, since we aren't listing, would you be willing to do this for X?"  If so, what is the value of X and should it be a dollar amount or a %? (Property will likely sell between $850-900k, I think.)

[Duke03]

If and big If, I was in the giving mood since I despise 99% of all realtors, I might offer the agent $5000.  No way in hell are they getting full pop 2.5% of 850k for doing hardly anything...

[Chris Pascale]

Get a comp from an agent you don't know, and then just do a FSBO deal.

Let the agent know they can help on he next deal, but you can handle this.

[Fishindude]

You can easily sell a piece of real estate simply using a title company, realtor is not needed.
Doesn't sound like you've signed a contract with realtor, simply had a discussion or two.  I can't see that you are obligated to anything yet.   

I'd just tell your realtor, I may already have a buyer, if that doesn't work out we will be in touch to talk about listing the place.
Realtors get paid for helping clients price their properties, advertising properties, showing properties and selling properties.  They've done none of that yet, so don't feel too guilty if they get cut out of the deal.

If you have already signed a contract and you bring in the buyer eliminating need for most of realtors services listed above, you should at least insist on a significant fee reduction.

[clarkfan1979]

I notified an agent we know and trust, and who I've been chatting with for a couple weeks, that we have decided to move forward with selling out rental property. I told the property manager (who I think was bent we didn't want to list with her) and asked her to notify the tenants that we wont' be renewing, and also to let them know that they have permission to break the lease at any time if they find something else.  (Lease is up June 30; plan is to list on about May 31, but if they are out earlier, that's more than fine.)

Tenants are 3 single guy roommates, so I figured there was no chance they'd want to buy, but PM emailed that she has notified them and they want to know asking price because they (or one of them?) is interested in buying.

We hadn't settled on a firm price with the agent.  He hasn't been inside yet, and since we aren't listing for a few months, we agreed it was silly to firm up a price right now when that could change.  The plan was for him to arrange with the PM to get in to see the place, and we'd discuss asking price then, but still not set anything until closer to listing.

We have not signed anything with him.

I don't want to screw him, but if the tenants buy, I don't think he's necessarily earned 2.5% (of the 5% commission), either.  He's certainly entitled to something (this is assuming he facilitates the inspection, paperwork, etc., especially since I'm am a few thousand miles away.).

I'm at a loss with how to proceed.  I live on the other side of the country and am only semi-familiar with prices there.  I'd like his guidance on what to ask, but again, not if it is going to cost me 2.5%.  Should I let him know the tenant expressed interest, ask if he's willing to visit and help me settle on a price to quote them, and just ask him how his commission works if we sell to this person without listing, and see what he offers?  Or should throw out a number myself.  "If we sell to them and you facilitate the sale and closing, since we aren't listing, would you be willing to do this for X?"  If so, what is the value of X and should it be a dollar amount or a %? (Property will likely sell between $850-900k, I think.)

Based on the current market, many houses are going over asking price. If you are offering the house to one of your tenants with no competition, how do you avoid selling your property for less than you would get on the open market?

[Villanelle]

I notified an agent we know and trust, and who I've been chatting with for a couple weeks, that we have decided to move forward with selling out rental property. I told the property manager (who I think was bent we didn't want to list with her) and asked her to notify the tenants that we wont' be renewing, and also to let them know that they have permission to break the lease at any time if they find something else.  (Lease is up June 30; plan is to list on about May 31, but if they are out earlier, that's more than fine.)

Tenants are 3 single guy roommates, so I figured there was no chance they'd want to buy, but PM emailed that she has notified them and they want to know asking price because they (or one of them?) is interested in buying.

We hadn't settled on a firm price with the agent.  He hasn't been inside yet, and since we aren't listing for a few months, we agreed it was silly to firm up a price right now when that could change.  The plan was for him to arrange with the PM to get in to see the place, and we'd discuss asking price then, but still not set anything until closer to listing.

We have not signed anything with him.

I don't want to screw him, but if the tenants buy, I don't think he's necessarily earned 2.5% (of the 5% commission), either.  He's certainly entitled to something (this is assuming he facilitates the inspection, paperwork, etc., especially since I'm am a few thousand miles away.).

I'm at a loss with how to proceed.  I live on the other side of the country and am only semi-familiar with prices there.  I'd like his guidance on what to ask, but again, not if it is going to cost me 2.5%.  Should I let him know the tenant expressed interest, ask if he's willing to visit and help me settle on a price to quote them, and just ask him how his commission works if we sell to this person without listing, and see what he offers?  Or should throw out a number myself.  "If we sell to them and you facilitate the sale and closing, since we aren't listing, would you be willing to do this for X?"  If so, what is the value of X and should it be a dollar amount or a %? (Property will likely sell between $850-900k, I think.)

Based on the current market, many houses are going over asking price. If you are offering the house to one of your tenants with no competition, how do you avoid selling your property for less than you would get on the open market?

[/b]

I don't.  OTOH, I also don't risk (or gain from, admittedly) whatever could happen in the market in the next few months (including rising interest rates).  So I think the plan would be to go in with a fairly aggressive price, since we wouldn't have the open market to let us know if we could get a bit more.  They can take it or leave it (or counter, but we'd probably not be willing to negotiate much, if at all).

This is also part of why I'm not willing to do the sale 100% without an agent.  I can look at Zillow and sales in the area, but I'm not confident in my ability to comp this property well, especially because it is a rare townhouse in an almost-completely SFH community.  There has been one recent sale.  Our floor plan, in December (and prices have gone up since then) for $850k, but that was much more updated.  So an agent who knows the area can help me come up with a realistic price. 

[SailingOnASmallSailboat]

Couple of thoughts:
1) When we sold our house, with a realtor, she asked us up front to share the names of people we'd already talked to. IIRC the contract had language that reduced her commission if so. You might talk to the agent about that.
2) If the agent gives you comps and you then price the unit accordingly (and it sells), and it's $50k higher than you thought you might be able to get, that is way more than 2.5%. Sure, it galls to pay that when you're bringing the buyer - but it might be lost in the noise. A good agent is well worth the cost.

Good luck!

[clarkfan1979]

Couple of thoughts:
1) When we sold our house, with a realtor, she asked us up front to share the names of people we'd already talked to. IIRC the contract had language that reduced her commission if so. You might talk to the agent about that.
2) If the agent gives you comps and you then price the unit accordingly (and it sells), and it's $50k higher than you thought you might be able to get, that is way more than 2.5%. Sure, it galls to pay that when you're bringing the buyer - but it might be lost in the noise. A good agent is well worth the cost.

Good luck!

Good real estate agents are worth the 2.5 to 3%. The bad one's might not be. Here is a recent example.

One of my real estate friends has a listing for 5.2 million. It's land that can be developed with more houses and there is also a single family home. They got the listing because of a referral and they beat out two other agents during the interview process. The sellers liked their value assessment the best. They liked the process and final conclusion.

About 10 days after the it goes live at 5.2 million, they get an offer for 4.2 million with no financing. It's a quick close (all cash). It was immediately rejected with no explanation.

Buyers agent calls and says, "What's the problem?"

Selling agent says, "You are a million dollars short."

Buyers agent says, "But it's all cash".

Sellers agent says, "My sellers are not willing to sell for less than 5.2 million. It's priced appropriately and it will sell for full asking. It might take a couple months, but it's not sell for less than 5.2 million."

About one week passes.

Sellers Agent gets two competing offers and emails the first group that originally offered 4.2 million. "We have multiple offers. Highest and best is due at the end of the week."

Buyers Agent: "Our final and best is all cash at 5.5 million"

They are under contract and scheduled to close within 30 days. 

In my opinion, the buyers made a mistake offering 1 million less, while it only being on the market for 10 days. If they offered all cash and full asking, they would have gotten it for 5.2 million. Because they low balled and wasted time, it provided enough time for other offers to come in. They eventually got the property, but it cost them an extra 300K (5.8%). 

Sellers agent held firm and got the most money for their client because they know the market well and can give you the best estimate (low error) for which it will most likely sell based on timeline.

[AccidentialMustache]

This situation can be complicated. We had similar, except we were waiting to list until after move-out as a courtesy. Tenants wanted to buy. We had an agent lined up (the one we've worked with for everything we've bought, and at this point we've bought 7 properties with her and offered on more than that, probably 10?). We'd had prelim discussions, including pricing it could sell for with her, but nothing signed. She knew the house, because she was who we bought it with (our first home).

However, because she never actually listed it, her real estate group's software wouldn't let her draw up a contract. She cut us loose and said, "get a lawyer, here is the general process you need to follow." FSBO, worked out between lawyers, no agents involved.

Did we get the best price we could have? Unknown. But we did get a fast close, didn't have the house sitting empty waiting for an offer after being done renting, didn't have to do any turn activities or incur those costs, didn't pay an agent fee, etc.

[Car Jack]

You can do exactly what the seller did of the house we're in.  We looked at the house after hearing they were going to put it on the market.  I knew the seller because he worked in the same group at work.  This was in an economic downturn and they had 3 mortgages and had already bought property elsewhere, having seen the upside of the economy where prices were skyrocketing.  Anyways, they did sign with a real estate agent with the specific exception that if we bought the house, no commission would be due.  We bought.  I think they gave the agent a few hundred dollars.

So sign an agent and have the contract put in an exception for your present tenants.  When a price is decided, run it by the tenants.  There is certainly a chance that it's multiples of what they expect and they immediately bow out.  Also realize that someone might want to buy as a rental property, so don't encourage the present tenants to leave as having the place rented is worth money in the sale.

[Villanelle]

I reached out to the agent and let him know that much to mu surprise, the tenant may be interested.  I simply asked "how does commission work in a situation like that".  Again, we have no signed contract with him, and the plan, unless the tenants decided to vacate early, was to list at the end of May.  He said, "I'm totally negotiable", and then continued on about how he think it's best if he next reaches out to the PM to see how serious the tenant is. 

I hate the vagueness, but at this point, I have a number in mind, which I may flex depending on how this plays out (if it plays out at all).  If he doesn't like the number, frankly that's his problem and he shouldn't have moved forward without clarification.  Now, I am admittedly a softie and pretty terrible at playing hardball, but I feel like I could stand strong here.  When we get to this point, I'll say, "I think given the work you've done and the work you will do see this through to closing, $xxxx is a far commission."  If he doesn't like it, the alternative is that I can pay him nothing at all, have the PM (who is a licensed agent) finish the deal, and pay her instead. 

If/when we determine the buyer is serious, and Agent and I settle on an asking price, I'll throw out the number before we get too far along.  Likely no later than the point at which we give a price and the buyer accepts and agrees to sign on that. 

Does this sound like a reasonable plan?

(At 2.5%, he'd get about $22k.  But there would be showings, marketing, etc.  For just helping me price it and managing the paperwork through to closing--keeping in mind he will need to open the house for all inspections**, etc. since I'm out of state, I think $5000 is fair.)

**The property manager could also do this.  She is clearly bent that I didn't list with her, but frankly, she has never really impressed me and I find her attention to detail lacking.  So I don't know how helpful and available she is going to be, if there is no money in the deal for her. (I may end up needing to throw a small commission to her, if she ends up officially representing the tenant/buyer, which I'm willing to do, but that would be lower than what I'd pay my agent.

[SailingOnASmallSailboat]

When we sold our house, the only commission we had any control over was the sellers agent part. There was a total commission in the contract, for both agents (yes, as sellers we paid both commissions). Buyers agent got 2.5%, non-negotiable. That  might be a state-by-state thing. But how much you pay the buyers agent might be not as up to you as you think, unless you specifically state that the price of the property is exclusive of any buyers agent commission (meaning the buyers are on the hook for it.)

If you have a number in mind, why not be up front about it with the agent you know and trust? How can you know if the tenant is serious if they don't know the price?

[Villanelle]

When we sold our house, the only commission we had any control over was the sellers agent part. There was a total commission in the contract, for both agents (yes, as sellers we paid both commissions). Buyers agent got 2.5%, non-negotiable. That  might be a state-by-state thing. But how much you pay the buyers agent might be not as up to you as you think, unless you specifically state that the price of the property is exclusive of any buyers agent commission (meaning the buyers are on the hook for it.)

If you have a number in mind, why not be up front about it with the agent you know and trust? How can you know if the tenant is serious if they don't know the price?

This is odd.  Are you sure you couldn't have offered a different commission to the buyer's agent?  IME, generally that is something that is part of the offer.  I don't see how anyone can really obligate you to pay a specific commission on a product you are selling.  It may be an expectation, and it may even be that they have agreements with their clients (the buyers) that they get a specific percent but that is between them as I don't really have anything to do with the relationship between my buyer and their agent.

Since if this goes through it will be before the property is even listed, it seems like I can offer nothing, if I choose.  I wouldn't do that (in part because she is also my PM and I need her to play somewhat nice during the selling process.), but I don't see how I could be forced to pay her anything, much less a specific amount.  I'm certainly not paying her 2.5% (~$22k) for what will amount to very little work on her part.

We don't know the buyer is serious until we come up with a price.  Now, if he is smart then he has done at least some basic research (or talked to the PM, who may be acting as his agent), but that's not always the case.  That's why our next step is for my agent to talk to the PM to see what the tenant is thinking, and also to make arrangements to get in to see the place so he can help me come up with a specific price.  We aren't in a huge hurry, though the main attraction of this possibility is just being done with it.  But if it takes a few days for my agent to get in to see the place, and then a couple more for us to settle on an asking price in a non-competitive situation, we've lost a week that we otherwise would have been doing nothing, so that's fine.  And if it takes them a couple weeks to get qualified (since presumably they weren't in the market to buy a house before two days ago), that's fine, too because it's not like we are delaying putting this on the market or would otherwise have been actively doing anything at all. 

Hopefully PM and agent can connect today, and we will get a slightly better feel for things, to know if this is even a semi-viable possibility. 

[clarkfan1979]

When we sold our house, the only commission we had any control over was the sellers agent part. There was a total commission in the contract, for both agents (yes, as sellers we paid both commissions). Buyers agent got 2.5%, non-negotiable. That  might be a state-by-state thing. But how much you pay the buyers agent might be not as up to you as you think, unless you specifically state that the price of the property is exclusive of any buyers agent commission (meaning the buyers are on the hook for it.)

If you have a number in mind, why not be up front about it with the agent you know and trust? How can you know if the tenant is serious if they don't know the price?

This is odd.  Are you sure you couldn't have offered a different commission to the buyer's agent?  IME, generally that is something that is part of the offer.  I don't see how anyone can really obligate you to pay a specific commission on a product you are selling.  It may be an expectation, and it may even be that they have agreements with their clients (the buyers) that they get a specific percent but that is between them as I don't really have anything to do with the relationship between my buyer and their agent.

Since if this goes through it will be before the property is even listed, it seems like I can offer nothing, if I choose.  I wouldn't do that (in part because she is also my PM and I need her to play somewhat nice during the selling process.), but I don't see how I could be forced to pay her anything, much less a specific amount.  I'm certainly not paying her 2.5% (~$22k) for what will amount to very little work on her part.

We don't know the buyer is serious until we come up with a price.  Now, if he is smart then he has done at least some basic research (or talked to the PM, who may be acting as his agent), but that's not always the case.  That's why our next step is for my agent to talk to the PM to see what the tenant is thinking, and also to make arrangements to get in to see the place so he can help me come up with a specific price.  We aren't in a huge hurry, though the main attraction of this possibility is just being done with it.  But if it takes a few days for my agent to get in to see the place, and then a couple more for us to settle on an asking price in a non-competitive situation, we've lost a week that we otherwise would have been doing nothing, so that's fine.  And if it takes them a couple weeks to get qualified (since presumably they weren't in the market to buy a house before two days ago), that's fine, too because it's not like we are delaying putting this on the market or would otherwise have been actively doing anything at all. 

Hopefully PM and agent can connect today, and we will get a slightly better feel for things, to know if this is even a semi-viable possibility.

Based on current market conditions, I don't think a good RE agent would help close the deal for 5K. I think 11K (1.25%) would be more realistic. RE agents have overhead and the good real estate agents have even more overhead. They don't like deals with small payouts. It's not worth their time.

It's the same with construction labor. You could offer $100/hour for a 5 hour job and it might be difficult to find someone. It will be much easier to find someone that will take $75/hour for a 100 hour job.

RE agents get 25% for referrals. A referral fee for a 850k house would be around 6K. This is only a couple hours of work. 

[Villanelle]

When we sold our house, the only commission we had any control over was the sellers agent part. There was a total commission in the contract, for both agents (yes, as sellers we paid both commissions). Buyers agent got 2.5%, non-negotiable. That  might be a state-by-state thing. But how much you pay the buyers agent might be not as up to you as you think, unless you specifically state that the price of the property is exclusive of any buyers agent commission (meaning the buyers are on the hook for it.)

If you have a number in mind, why not be up front about it with the agent you know and trust? How can you know if the tenant is serious if they don't know the price?

This is odd.  Are you sure you couldn't have offered a different commission to the buyer's agent?  IME, generally that is something that is part of the offer.  I don't see how anyone can really obligate you to pay a specific commission on a product you are selling.  It may be an expectation, and it may even be that they have agreements with their clients (the buyers) that they get a specific percent but that is between them as I don't really have anything to do with the relationship between my buyer and their agent.

Since if this goes through it will be before the property is even listed, it seems like I can offer nothing, if I choose.  I wouldn't do that (in part because she is also my PM and I need her to play somewhat nice during the selling process.), but I don't see how I could be forced to pay her anything, much less a specific amount.  I'm certainly not paying her 2.5% (~$22k) for what will amount to very little work on her part.

We don't know the buyer is serious until we come up with a price.  Now, if he is smart then he has done at least some basic research (or talked to the PM, who may be acting as his agent), but that's not always the case.  That's why our next step is for my agent to talk to the PM to see what the tenant is thinking, and also to make arrangements to get in to see the place so he can help me come up with a specific price.  We aren't in a huge hurry, though the main attraction of this possibility is just being done with it.  But if it takes a few days for my agent to get in to see the place, and then a couple more for us to settle on an asking price in a non-competitive situation, we've lost a week that we otherwise would have been doing nothing, so that's fine.  And if it takes them a couple weeks to get qualified (since presumably they weren't in the market to buy a house before two days ago), that's fine, too because it's not like we are delaying putting this on the market or would otherwise have been actively doing anything at all. 

Hopefully PM and agent can connect today, and we will get a slightly better feel for things, to know if this is even a semi-viable possibility.

Based on current market conditions, I don't think a good RE agent would help close the deal for 5K. I think 11K (1.25%) would be more realistic. RE agents have overhead and the good real estate agents have even more overhead. They don't like deals with small payouts. It's not worth their time.

It's the same with construction labor. You could offer $100/hour for a 5 hour job and it might be difficult to find someone. It will be much easier to find someone that will take $75/hour for a 100 hour job.

RE agents get 25% for referrals. A referral fee for a 850k house would be around 6K. This is only a couple hours of work.

I'd mention the price now but it could flex given how much work and time goes in to getting this deal finalized and signed.

As for whether she will take that fee for being the buyers agent, maybe I'm missing something, but if she doesn't take it, what choice does she have.  This person wants to buy my house (in this scenario).  She can bow out if she doesn't like the pay on offer by me for that work, in which case they still buy my house and she gets nothing.    It's not like there will be a ton of work involved with this.  No showings, as they literally live there, and she wouldn't necessarily even need to be there for inspections or anything else because the tenant/buyer has a key.  I'm open to being wrong about this, but for her, I really don't see how she has any leverage.  If she doesn't like what I offer, I can sell to these people as basically unrepresented buyers instead.  Slightly more work for my agent (and I'd likely just add whatever I offered her to his payment), but it's not like she is the gatekeeper on this deal.   I know where the buyer lives so I don't even need her to provide contact info for him.  What am I missing? 

And the same with my agent.  No showings, no marketing, no open houses, no trying to work multiple parties against each other for the best price.  That said, I'm definitely open to paying him more, though I'm not sure that extends to 1.25%, which is half of regular commission, when it seems to me like the hard part and the risk are both removed from this transaction.

[rockeTree]

Did we get the best price we could have? Unknown. But we did get a fast close, didn't have the house sitting empty waiting for an offer after being done renting, didn't have to do any turn activities or incur those costs, didn't pay an agent fee, etc.

This is us. (Closing in two weeks assuming all continues to go well!)

The luxury of having a lot saved and a decent income is that I don't have to squeeze the tenant for everything he's got or deal with kicking out a good tenant, figuring out the max I can get net of work I do to raise the price, scrubbing the place down and dressing it up, negotiating deals and repairs, worrying about the appraisal... Tenant said he wanted to buy and I called a title company, filled out a couple forms and mailed it all in.

That said this isn't an 850k house and the difference between the selling price and every dime I could get is perhaps about a month of before tax household income. It is nice to be able to be generous and nice to not deal with the full real estate drama and oh it will be nice to not have that rental.

[Villanelle]

Did we get the best price we could have? Unknown. But we did get a fast close, didn't have the house sitting empty waiting for an offer after being done renting, didn't have to do any turn activities or incur those costs, didn't pay an agent fee, etc.

This is us. (Closing in two weeks assuming all continues to go well!)

The luxury of having a lot lot saved and a decent income is that I don't have to squeeze the tenant for everything he's got or deal with kicking out a good tenant, figuring out the max I can get net of work I do to raise the price, scrubbing the place down and dressing it up, negotiating deals and repairs, worrying about the appraisal... Tenant said he wanted to buy and I called a title company, filled out a couple forms and mailed it all in.

That said this isn't an 850k house and the difference between the selling price and every dime I could get is about a month of before tax household income. It is nice to be able to be generous and nice to not deal with the full real estate drama and oh it will be nice to not have that rental.

What's crazy is that this 850k house (which it looks like will actually be a $915k house!) is a dated, >2000sqft townhouse.  SoCal price insanity. 

Had a nice chat with our agent yesterday, who is still waiting to hear back from my PM.  (No surprise, and part of the reason I didn't even consider using her as our selling agent.)  I sent a gentle nudge to the PM today and she responded that "it's on her calendar to call him today".  Strategy is to see if this is even a serious buyer.  Hopefully, we can get them to give a first price, since we aren't yet on the market and weren't planning to settle on a price for another ~6 weeks. 

He is still being a little weird about the commission.  When I bring it up, he sort of moves to generalities, but when I talked about what to offer the PM/buyers agent (if the tenant buys), one example he gave was, "if they commission is 3.5%, we'd each get half."  I don't think she deserves half, but I think I am going to propose a total commission and tell him that I'm fine with him getting more than her, but if he thinks it needs to be split in half, that's his choice. 

I've also learned that many Zillow listings show the buyer's agent commission, and looking in the area, about half seem to be offering 2% (and the rest 2.5%).  And that's for a home on the market, with much more work for both parties. 

[clifp]

My $.02, which is worth a bit more than you paid for it, is that $5,000 seems reasonable.  The buyer is known to you, and the main value the PM is providing is just keeping you informed of the constantly changing disclosure laws in California  In this particular case, if for some reason the buyer, ends up suing about some undisclosed condition, I think they'd have a particularly weak case. After all the dude has lived there for year and you've hardly seen the places.  Is it likely the tenant could buy the place, he has two roommates?  He needs to have $180K down, and make a payment, including taxes of around $4,700 would probably need to making ball park $140K to qualify.

[Villanelle]

It seems the tenant is is no real position to buy the place.  I'm not even sure why the PM passed on the info. She's a RE agent herself and should have understood that.  (But there are reasons I didn't even consider using her to sell, and this goes back to that.)  Heck, they could have looked on Zillow and gotten at least an estimate and know it wasn't going to be feasible for them.  There was a reason I didn't even consider them buying it as a possibility initially, and I was surprised they mentioned it, and it turns out I was correct.  it is so, so much cheaper to rent in that market than to buy, and that doesn't even factor in one person needing to buy it when there are 3 occupants. So this isn't happening, and we are back to planning to list it.  I'm offering $1500 for them to be out by the end of April and $1000 for them to be out by the end of May.  (Lease goes through June.)  That's probably not necessary as I don't need the money ASAP, but I just want to be done with the whole thing. 

[clifp]

I assume that's for all 3 to vacate?  But you are right, that's basic due diligence on the part of the PM.  She knows how much the tenant makes, in my experience Zillow is virtually always within 10%. She can spend like I did literally 5 minutes to get a ballpark how much he can finance.  Then PM, tells the tenant I suspect you'll need a down payment, 200,300,400,000 at which point the conversation is over.

[Villanelle]

I assume that's for all 3 to vacate?  But you are right, that's basic due diligence on the part of the PM.  She knows how much the tenant makes, in my experience Zillow is virtually always within 10%. She can spend like I did literally 5 minutes to get a ballpark how much he can finance.  Then PM, tells the tenant I suspect you'll need a down payment, 200,300,400,000 at which point the conversation is over.

Yes, we will likely be selling for slightly less than the Zillow listing.  (Although that is up another $7k in the last week, and about $30k in the last 2 months!).  And yes, that would be $1500 for all three to vacate, which is about half a months' rent. 

PM was always just adequate at best, and I know she is salty that she didn't get our business on the sale, so I suspect she isn't going to go out of her way on anything.  In fact, it is not in her best interest to get the tenants out early as that is lost income for her. Our agent is visiting the property this week and I'm hoping the tenants will be home so that he can correctly and clearly relay the offer of cash for early vacating. I don't know that the PM would outright lie and tell me she's told them when she hasn't, but I can see her downplaying it or trying to make it somehow ambiguous or otherwise not attractive.  I warned our agent that she may drag her feet on things or be slow to respond or act on things, and that he is going to have to stay on top of her since I'm not there to do things in person. 

Not having to deal with property managers is not all that far down on the lists of reasons why I'll be happy to sell.  I'm of the opinion that truly good property managers are... perhaps not as rare as unicorns, but maybe as white rhinos.  They exists, but I've never seen one and probably never will, and the ones I've used have come personally recommended by people I know.