Hello all. I had another post asking about the process about short sales (I'm a newbie), and I have another question about short sales, but a little bit different. I have a potential client who wanted to know if the tenant who is currently staying at the property can still stay if he sells the place? It was an investment property he was scammed into purchasing (big case with FBI involved). I'm also from Michigan, if that makes any difference. Thank you in advance for you help and advice.

Boy does that question have a bunch of moviug parts... Does the tenant have a lease? Is the buyer an investor? How much of a short sale? Your friend doesn't need a Realtor, he needs a lawyer, and not a plain vanilla lawyer either, a lawyer with a bunch of RE experience--in Michigan.

Interesting question to bring up, and I'll be watching the thread, but I don't think there's a blanket answer.

Oh man, that's what I was afraid to hear. I'm actually pretty new. I've only dealt with Buyers so far, and this (along with 4 other properties they have) are going to be short saled. I really didn't even know what a short sale was until a few days ago. The tenant does have a lease. There are no buyers yet, I'm looking to list the property. The person who bought it thought it was buying a foreclosed property (a long story short, they were scammed into buying these properties, the FBI and DA are involved), but now he just wants to get rid of it.

I do not see why the tenant could not stay as long as the buyer allows it. Technically the lease would transfer to the buyer and no big deal. Are these single family homes or multi-units? If multi-units, most likely your buyer is going to rent them out anyway so yes, shouldn't be a problem for them to stay. If the units are single family and your buyers are most likely going to be owner occupants, then yes, you may have to work on getting them out of there.

Chase

Thanks again Chase, you seem to be the guru. It is a single family home. I had done some regular college campus investment properties that had the transferable leases, but wasn't sure with the short sales. Appreciate the help. Thanks to you too ggwwttre.

Sure, short sales really aren't that terribly different than a standard transaction. The only difference is that you are negotiating the sellers payoff down, nothing else is affected.


Chase