Inherting tenants and safe guarding your investment

[Duane Ward]

So my wife are close to closing on our first investment property. Originally we were closing end of june when the property would be vacant. However, our lender just contacted us stating he thinks we should close earlier cause the rates are anticipated being much higher by then due to the rate lock being 60 days right now. Problem is, if we close earlier, we would be inheriting a tenant who is currently paying MUCH less than market on the other half of the duplex. They are currently due out end of June, however, with the interest rates in mind, is it worth the risk to close early? If we did close early, what safe guards should we put in place to ensure he exits when he agreed to? Is $5k and 3 months still the standard time frame to remove a tenant? Should we just wait until May to lock in the rate at whatever it is since it's so close?