Suspicious about sellers agent on first rental property purchase

[Jessica Chow]

My husband and I just bought our first rental property in Lehi, Utah, thanks to a lot of the tips, tricks, and courage from you fellow BPers & these forums. The townhouse that we purchased had the option to come with the tenant, which was especially exciting since we are out of state, and didn't have to find another one. However, now that we have an accepted offer, we are concerned about a few things:

• Before we put in an offer in on the house, we told the seller's agent to let the tenants know that we would be raising the rent from $1250 to 1350, which is market value for the area. It was never communicated to our agent until after the offer was accepted that the tenant is not happy with the new rent price and may move out ASAP.
• The sellers agent also told us only now that the tenant has been difficult to work with on scheduling showings and now the inspection, even though they already knew that the house was being sold.
• Then, the sellers agent asked us if we would be interested in using their own property management's service.

I don't have any specific questions, but want to get anyone else's take on whether this is a suspicious situation, either with the tenant or with the sellers agent.

For what it's worth, our agent will be present for the inspection tomorrow (Tues) morning, and we have asked her to get a feel for the tenants, since they may be present.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

[Andrew Johnson]

Jessica Chow Why did you want the seller’s agent to communicate a rent-raise to the tenant? You’re still obligated by whatever lease was signed. I don’t know if it’s month-to-month or annual. So here’s what I’m guessing happened:

You told the seller’s agent to spook the tenant -> Seller’s agent spooked tenant -> Tenant is acting like a spooked tenant

At this point, it wouldn’t matter to me what someone else’s opinion on the tenant is. Plan for them not to sign your lease, plan for them to have to adhere to the signed lease (which you should have), plan for turnover/vacancy, and move on with life 👍🏻