Buy and hold SFRS - how to coordinate your lease and sale?

[Scott Harlow]

I have a few general questions about the timing associated with investing in and eventually selling SFRs. I only own 1 investment property (a 4-unit multi) but I'm on target to be adding another to my portfolio in the next 6-12 months. With multi family properties it's actually a selling point if the property is fully rented with good tenants (even if the rents are under market, a savvy investor might realize this and see an opportunity to increase NOI).

In the SFR market it seems like selling the property with tenants on a current lease automatically excludes most buyers that are just looking for a home. Do you wait for a lease to end so that you can clean, repair and/or stage the property before you sell? If the house sells quickly this would be no big deal, but that mortgage payment and no cash flow starts to hurt if the house sits on the market for months.

So, whats your method for selling an SFR that has been a buy and hold property?