Sorry Sellers! Buyers are not Interested in Buying, THEN Looking

Sellers will net more after the tenant moves out. There will be more showings and the closing/possession date will be more predictable.
I’ve had showings where the tenant was present and they pointed out all the negative features of the property and talked about the property owner. They even lied about the house flooding at some point!

I totally agree. It's almost always a problem getting the tenant to agree to showings and even the best tenants don't really keep a property in show ready shape.

When you put on the tenants shoes...its a diffrent walk of life

Tenants certainly can make selling the home a major issue to I always recommend we list after the tenants have moved out.  I have seen several listings here lately that are tenant occupied and in confidential comments to agents it will say the home can only be shown to the buyer AFTER they have a fully executed contract to purchase in place.  That is just crazy - a buyer doesn’t want to buy a home they can’t see.

Tenants can make it difficult to sell a home Debe, I can say with utmost confidence. Congrats on the gold star feature!

Problem tenants are not tenants an investor would want to keep. So whether the buyer is an investor or someone who intends to occupy, the tenant has to go. Then clean, fix and list ... IMO.

So very true. It just adds another layer of complexity to the listing - and as you mention, there is little incentive for the tenant to cooperate in terms of showing times - and showing prep. D 

Proceeded to show a buyer a duplex. Had to do a lot of due diligence because of very little information in agent remarks or public remarks. Made arrangements to show couple times because of excuses tenant appointment changes. My client was an out of town investor. He showed up with ear buds in case client was going to be present. He didn't want to hear all the negativity but soon changed his mind, after 2 minutes of entering.  We agreed to move on and really felt the landlord/property manager/owner had never stepped foot inside the unit. Needed to be gutted. This was a longtime tenant (10 years) with longtime damages. I contacted the listing agent who was related and had never stepped foot inside of said units. Other unit was vacant and no wonder. Looked like no maintenance whatsoever. My client insisted forwarding his text for feedback to the listing agent. "Property should be declared total health hazard and be condemned." "When was last time landlord and listing agent entered for an inspection before putting on market?" "Slum lord and slum agent."  .. His words not mine. Was taken off market for at least 6 months.

Absolutely true. Wait until the property is vacant; do what is needed to appeal to buyers (fresh paint, repairs, staging at a minimum) and then reap the reward.

Wow a lot of answers to your questions....

I completely agree. It is typically  a problem getting the tenant to agree to showings and most tenants don't  keep a property in show ready shape.

Absolutely, Debe, you are correct; however, I do have an interesting tale about this. I wanted a seller to get rid of his tenant but he needed the income. It was 2 houses on a lot and he lived in one. We sold it for list price, subject to showing the bigger house when in escrow. I figured if the buyers walked through the home with the tenants prior to contract, the tenants would go out of their way to make sure the buyer did not purchase. The seller felt that way, too.

While in contract, we received a backup offer. I had the seller tell the tenants that the first buyers were investors and they can stay, warning if anything happened to make these buyers change their minds about closing, then the owner-occupied buyers would move into first position and the tenants would get evicted.

Not a peep outta those guys. But this, of course, is unusual. It's better for the home to be vacant. Sometimes you gotta work with what's handed to ya.

Definitely agree with this! Tenants need to be gone to market a home successfully!

While some tenants are cooperative, most certainly are not. And why should they be  really? Once lease is up and they're out is the time to list.

Thanks for sharing, Debe Maxwell, CRS,  
Bruce.

So true.  I showed a home this past Monday wherein the tenants had been sleeping and just woke up at 10:30.  The house stunk like wrotten food and a lazy dog wouldn't budge.  Argh!

Debe Maxwell, CRS "Countless times we see tenants disrupt showings, thwarting the efforts of sellers to get top dollar on their home. Remember, the longer your home is on the market, the less it’s going to sell for. A buyer isn’t going to hold out to buy your property a month and expect to pay full price!"

Right on target - and - re-blog!