When purchasing, is there a way you can do a property inspection without disturbing the tenant?
You can try to schedule it (with their permission) while they are not in the property. Give them the legal required notice of entry, and you should be good.
Don’t go while they’re in bed sleeping, or eating dinner as a family .
I just did one a couple hours ago. The tenant’s two teenage sons were home. Our Realtor was with me. The inspection was scheduled by our Realtor thru the listing agent with the tenant’s permission. I think it is very important that you take someone else with you if you’re not using a Realtor and the tenants aren’t home at the time. You want to have someone else there so you don’t get accused of something later.
Most tenants will let you take a look around without any problems. If not, don’t assume things are in decent condition inside. Also beware of the tenants that badmouth the “evil” landlord who never fixes anything. They could be your tenant next if you buy the place.
You DO want to disturb the tenant. I don’t mean piss them off or anything - but you do want to tour the property before buying it and also you want to ask the tenant questions about it. Flat out ask the tenant if there is anything wrong with the property or if there is any maintenance that has been deferred - they will gladly tell you in most cases as they want it fixed. You need to know if the place has doors that stick (a possible foundation issue) and leaks (it may need a new roof)…and the best person to ask is the person who lives there. Plus doing a visual inspection of the place will help you determine how much you should offer. And there is nothing stopping you from getting a real inspection of the place if you don’t know how to check for termites, leaks, foundation issues, etc yourself. It’s your money, and usually a lot of it, so don’t worry about not disturbing the tenant. =)
Exactly what they said, except I try to eliminate them off my list without looking.
I ask a bunch of questions that I would normally answer myself by visual inspection.
I’d rather not bether the tennants if I know I’m not interested.
A lot of times tennants see me when I do drive by’s especially if I get the camera out and I’m pacing on the sidewalk…
They generally are very open about telling me what’s wrong with the place.
All excellent points. Learned a lot here, thanks guys.
KI