Tips on selling a tenanted 4-plex

[Neal Collins]

We had to make a tough decision to sell a 4-plex in a nice, close-in neighborhood in Portland that we had anticipated holding on to. Other opportunities have come up and some cash on hand is needed. We completely changed the building around since we took ownership and have put four great long term tenants in there. One of the things I wish I would have done was leave a unit vacant to model had I known we were going to be selling it. It seems like there is a lot of demand for a live-in multifamily house hack and maybe we completely missed the boat on that. Has anyone else experienced this when selling a small MF?

[Account Closed]

You can use the 30 day evict clause for an owner occupant buyer if the notice is given to the tenant within 120 days of mutual contract agreement, so at least the buyer won't have to wait 3 months to move in... as long as it's a month to month agreement. 

A slight tangent but has anyone considered switching to week to week agreements? No 90 day notice required but the law says you can't ask for a security deposit either. I wonder if there's a way to legally still get some kind of refundable deposit. A week to week can be written to give the tenant 30 days notice instead of the 10 days minimum required by law, and to accept pre-paid rent so you're not cashing weekly checks.