Cash for keys...do I have the right?

[Joe Salimao]

Hi everyone,

I am currently working on a wholesale deal that has two major barriers. The first barrier is that it is listed with an agent. This means all offers must go through the seller’s agent. This is not the biggest problem because I have direct contact with the seller; he actually called me about buying his house.

The bigger problem is that there is a tenant currently residing in the home. She will not respond to requests from the seller’s agent to show the house. She is also late on her payments for the second time. The first time they went to court and she paid a lump sum to stay.

The Realtor wants to file for eviction again and said that he would show it to me after she is out. The problem is that this could take months. Also, this would mean that the seller’s agent would have control of the deal, meaning it will be much easier to sell the property once the tenant is out. I believe this is their major stumbling block since no homeowner or investor wants to buy a house with a deadbeat tenant in place and this is enabling me to purchase the property at a steep discount. Not to mention they can’t even show the property even if someone did want to buy it. If I wait the months after the eviction I am pretty sure they will move this property for a much higher price than the seller agreed to sell it to me for and I will have wasted a great deal of time for nothing.

As investors we make money by solving seller’s problems with creative solutions. The problem here is the tenant and if they solve it themselves then there is no motivation to sell. I want to be the solution to this problem so here is my question. Can I contact the tenant directly and ask her if I can see the property? I am planning on offering her $500 to vacate the property and given the neighborhood and the tenant’s situation I am pretty sure she will take this. If the seller gives consent, which he has, can I do this?

Sorry for the long post...look forward to hearing from you.

Joe Salimao