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A) Tell him we will give him a $100 off the rent and the realtor can arrange to have it professionally cleaned and then take new pictures.
- You know your tenant better than me, so I guess if you really feel their messy nature is some kind of purposeful attack, then I don't see how giving them money will make them cooperate. Regardless, I would let them know, in a "Hey, you've won a prize" kind of tone, that I'm sending a cleaning company to clean up, letting them know that, "I know you're busy, we all are, and I noticed the place could use some tidying up. I apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your cooperation as I will be showing the place to some people who are interested. To make things easier for you, I have arranged for a maid company to clean up. Does Thursday work for you, or are weekends better?" Based on their answer, I'm guessing weekend, I would give them Saturday morning or Sunday morning as choices, mentioning they can clean the place while you're off at church.
B) Put up pictures that were taken when the house was vacant
- Well, not the best idea, because that will involve a lot of backpedalling which might destroy the presenter's credibility. Not my first choice, probably an act of desperation if I CANNOT work things out with the tenant. I have had all kinds of tenants before, even hostile ones. In the case of the most hostile one, actual real hostile one, not imagined, I ended up kicking them out and left it vacant for two weeks as I cleaned it up, THEN started showing it. I have shown a property when it was an utter mess and the people never came back. When you can get that "I want to live here" feeling from them (see below), they not only sign up but stay there for a long time, which I figure is your goal. It definitely is my goal. I hate turnovers.
C) Only put up exterior pictures on the listing
- If it's as horrible as you describe, my experience has been that the "bait and switch" method does not work with rentals. It's where they want to call home. It depends on the market. If there are a lot of available rentals in the area (I know what that's like too), then you have to be their #1 choice and to do that, you have to appeal to them in at least these ways:
1) their pocketbook - are you the cheapest
2) that at-home feeling - does your rental give them the "I really like this place" feeling
3) neighborhood - Do they like the neighbors, do they like the layout, is it a cul-de-sac (which appeals to families with small children)
4) do they like you or your agent - whomever they meet, it's like they're forming a relationship with them. If they're magnetic, sometimes people sign up because they don't want to reject them.
D) ANY other suggestions would be welcome. I'm truly at a loss.
- The loss is pretty much financial. I hate to say it, as it appears you may have already formed an opinion of your tenant, but maybe you want to give them ONE LAST benefit of a doubt and give them a chance to show some humanity. If that fails, then I say kick em out...
Cheers!
_________________________________________
You never know until you try - Some Famous Person
Last edited by g_ike; 10-10-2013 at 01:52 PM..
Reason: first post. I wanted to see the format.
OMG! You cannot expect to rent it like that to anyone, let alone sell it.
I wouldn't knock off rent money; isn't it YOUR house?
No, no, have a realtor clean it, stage it, and professionally photograph it if you want to make a dent in selling it. This is a horrible renter!
Matter of fact for this, I would charge him damages for making me waste my time!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Book Lover 21
So we just got our rental property (1600 miles away from us) listed. I was horrified by the pictures. It is as though the tenant is purposely trying to prevent us from selling the property.
We told him we will knock off $200 from the rent in exchange for his cooperation in showing the property. However the pictures look as though he wasn't even aware they were going to be taken. There are clothes on the floor, dirty dishes in the kitchen, etc. I can't image we will get any calls under these circumstances. We did tell him we were going to try to market it and focus on investors as that area is really hot for investors right now.
Should I:
A) Tell him we will give him a $100 off the rent and the realtor can arrange to have it professionally cleaned and then take new pictures.
B) Put up pictures that were taken when the house was vacant
C) Only put up exterior pictures on the listing
D) ANY other suggestions would be welcome. I'm truly at a loss.
Would it violate the TOS of CD if I post a link to the pics so y'all can see what I'm talking about?
If a tenant in CA has been in the home longer than one year, you have to give them 60 days notice to vacate.
It's really not that difficult to end a tenancy in CA unless the tenant puts up a fight.
Agreed. If OP wants to have the tenant move out, and the tenants have been there for a year or more, OP will have to give 60 days notice to vacate (if less than a year, it's 30 days notice). Question is, will the tenants cooperate, or try to fight it and force the OP to try to evict them? An eviction will cost hundreds (plus the lost rent), and could take a month or two, or even more if they fight it. OP needs to assess whether or not the tenants will try to fight a termination of tenancy notice.
Ultimately, OP needs to decide if it's better to get the tenants out before trying to sell. Good luck!
Wow, that was surprisingly bad. I can't believe your agent would even have pictures like that taken. You need to get those pictures off pronto, get the tenants out, clean up the house, and you'll have a good chance of selling. Cute house. But impossible to look thru all the clutter.
That agent should be shot for taking those pictures.
Get rid of the agent. There is no excuse for some of those pictures... especially the open dishwasher. He/she could have run at least a wet papertowel/rag over the bathroom sink area.
Granted, we investors are accustomed to seeing horror stories, but under the junk..it looks like a decent starter home for a young family.
Get a new realtor. Have a discussion with the renter immediately prior to having pics taken. Get his/her cooperation. He doesn't have a stake in this, so he or she doesn't care. If the renter isn't cooperative, you could terminate the lease and list the house.
You could also use the pics from before the renter's arrival. I don't see anything wrong with that.
But the realtor doesn't have your interests at heart with pics that don't portray your home in the best possible light.
I would tell the tenant now that you are not renewing the lease, and that they will have to move out. That looks like a beautiful house. I'd get it empty, have it professionally staged, and sell it in the spring. I'd want to buy that house, but with the tenant's mess there, I would probably figure no one else will fall in love with it, and I'd bargain hard.
Without reading through the many pages I join in with those questioning the ability of your agent since he/she spent time taking these pictures and actually incredibly put them online.
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I know it sucks, but...
