How to Sell a Rental Home to the Tenant

If you own a rental home that you've decided to sell, finding a buyer could be as easy as offering your tenant the option to buy it. She may be happily settled where she is and could be ready to own her home. If that piece falls into place, it will save you time and money marketing you rental home. You're not out of the woods yet, though. Once your tenant agrees to buy the house, you still have to go through the process of selling it, just as if it were to any other buyer.

You'll need a real estate attorney to advise you on real estate laws in your area, help negotiate the contract and can also help with the title to the home.

Knowing the value of the home will help you come up with a selling price. You can contact a real estate agent to get an idea of what similar homes in nearby neighborhoods are selling for. In fact, a real estate agent can be just as useful as an attorney. Even though you already have a buyer, you'll still have to pay the agent's fee. Find out what agents in your area charge and compare it to what an attorney would charge. Of course, you could also get information on recently appraised values of comparable homes from an appraiser.

You can present your asking price to your tenant, but be prepared for your tenant to counter with a lower offer. You'll have an idea of what is a reasonable price from the research you've already done. Consider issues like repairs that the tenant is willing to make at her own expense, appliances and other fixtures to be included in the sale and what closing costs each of you will pay after settling on an agreed-upon price.

The earnest money amount is separate from the downpayment, and is a small fee, paid up-front to show the buyer's good faith intention of purchasing the home. It will be credited toward the home purchase at the closing.

You may want to finance the home for your tenant if she is unable to get a loan for the home through a mortgage company. If she's rented from you for an extended period of time, you'll have an idea of whether she pays her bills on time. Even so, you'll still want to obtain a credit report and get confirmation of her on-going employment to verify that she has the resources to pay for the home.

Have your attorney draw up the sales contract once all of the terms have been agreed upon and you know what your tenant's financing and down payment plans are. Both you and the tenant will sign the contract.

You can ask the attorney to order a title report on the home in preparation for closing on the house. Your attorney may already have taken care of this issue, but it's wise to make sure that it gets done.

An appraiser's job is to assign a value to the home. If your tenant is financing the house through a mortgage company, they will have ordered the appraisal. Even if you will be carrying the contract on the house, an appraisal should be done to ensure the value of the home.

Make any necessary repairs that you've agreed to make in preparation for closing. Then arrange for closing with your attorney once the inspections and repairs have been finalized and the tenant's financing is in order. In some areas of the country, home sale closings are done at title companies. Your attorney can help arrange the closing even if he won't be doing the paperwork himself.