Hernando · Pasco · Citrus · Hillsborough
You don't have to get them out first. That's usually the sentence people most want to hear, and it's the main reason occupied houses end up with me instead of on the MLS.
An eviction takes time and money you may not want to spend on a house you've already decided to be rid of. You can sell with the occupant still in place and let the problem transfer with the property — which is what I'm set up to handle.
A retail buyer can't usually do this. Their lender wants the house vacant, their agent wants it staged, and a tenant who won't allow showings stops the whole thing. That's the gap I fill.
If there's a valid lease, a buyer normally takes the property subject to it — the tenant's rights don't evaporate because the owner changed. That's not a problem for me; I just need to know what I'm taking on. A paying tenant with a real lease can actually make a property more attractive, not less.
Where it gets more involved is when there's no lease, when the term has expired, or when nobody can agree on what was actually agreed. Florida has specific rules about notice and process depending on which of those you're in, and getting it wrong can restart the clock. It's one of the areas where I'd genuinely rather you spoke to an attorney than took my word for it.
None of these are tests you can fail. I've bought houses where the owner genuinely didn't know who was inside, and we worked it out.
A vacant house in good condition sells for more on the open market than an occupied one sells to me. That's true and I won't pretend otherwise. The question is what getting it vacant actually costs you — an eviction, the months it takes, the repairs after they leave, and the carrying costs the whole time. For a lot of people that math doesn't come out ahead, and for some it's simply not worth the aggravation.
Get a number from me and compare it against that, not against a fantasy version where everyone cooperates.
I buy property for my own account. I'm not an attorney and nothing here is legal advice — for your specific situation, talk to a Florida attorney. I work with several and I'm glad to point you toward one.
No. I buy occupied property and the occupancy transfers with it. Evicting first is an option, not a requirement, and it usually costs more than people expect.
Yes, and it's more common than you'd think. Tell me the history and we'll work out what we're dealing with. Florida has particular rules here, so it's worth a conversation with an attorney as well.
It's a factor, because it tells me what I'm taking on. But it doesn't stop a sale, and it's usually a smaller factor than the cost of you dealing with it yourself.
That's one of the reasons people call me rather than list. I can often work from exterior photos, county records and what you can tell me, and look inside later.
Very much so. A paying tenant with a real lease makes the property more attractive, not less.
They'll need to be notified at some point, and if there's a lease they have rights that continue. We can talk about timing and how it's handled so nobody is blindsided.
Lease or no lease, paying or not — it doesn't need to be resolved before you call.