Taking on month to month tenant

[Nadir M.]

Hello everyone,

Currently looking at a house that is tenant occupied, tenant is month-to-month. Seller states the tenant has been great. What should I look for? If I purchase property, do I keep tenant or vacate and restart? We are approaching the Fall season so finding tenants in the Midwest becomes more of a hassle. My PM is saying I should keep tenant and bump rent in November/December. I was thinking of bumping rent now and give them the option of signing on for another year or vacating. Currently they are paying $975, my monthly payment will be around $760, my PM is saying I can get $1150 (PM has been spot on in terms of rent rate the last two buys). Side note, house does need some external work as well that will need to be done sooner than later.

Any suggestion much appreciated

Thx

[Theresa Harris]

Find out how long they have been there.  If you plan on raising the rent from $975 to $1150, that is a BIG increase and they are likely to leave.  I would not increase the rent in Dec simply due to Christmas, pick another month.