For Creative Real Estate Investors: Negotiating Repairs with a Tenant Buyer
We signed on a new lease option tenant recently before we finished renovating a property. She was very eager to move in and was constantly over at the house. As we were nearing the completion to the repairs, she made a list of the items that she found unacceptable. One of which was the cleanliness of the bathtub. So, we sent someone to the property to clean the tub.
The next day, I get a phone call from the tenant still complaining about the tub. I assured her that it had been cleaned; but that I would send someone back out to the property.
After another cleaning and another angry phone call, I knew this had to end. As I explained that the house was not brand new and that it was not in our scope of work to replace the tub, I sensed that things were going nowhere. She wanted the tub to be reglazed, and I didn’t want to spend anymore money in the property.
All the sudden, it came to me. I told the tenant, “What if we were able to give you a repair credit? If you went ahead and reglazed the tub yourself, we could just take the expense that you incur off of the purchase price of the house when you buy it.” She thought it was a great idea.
The tenant was happy. I was very happy. The tenant’s improving our property before they even buy it, and with no more money out of my pocket. How about that?
Category: Negotiating, Real Estate Investment Selling Strategies