Purchasing a home that currently has a tenant

[Laura Smith]

I’m currently in the process of buying a 3B1B home that has tenants. I’m curious if it is better to let the tenants stay or “start fresh” with a tenant of my screening and choosing? The house needs work in my opinion (like a new roof) but the current tenants are happy and want to stay. If I let them stay I would put off some of the work that isn’t necessary like opening up the very small kitchen, which would be cheaper up front for me but my biggest fear is inheriting a horrible tenant that either trashes the place or doesn’t pay on time. What have you done in this situation? The seller has accepted my offer and the home inspection report came back so I’m waiting to see what the sellers response to my “list of demands” is. My real estate agent hasn’t mentioned if the seller will have the tenants out by closing or not. It all seems very vague and is making me nervous. How does a transaction like this usually go down?