I think that it is a good idea to give the tenant an incentive to more.  A home shows better when it is clean and staged.  We saw a home that was tenant occupied, and the tenant was following us around .  I found it very uncomfortable. A

It is always easier and more efficient to have the tenant gone and the place vacant.

However, that is not always practical or possible. After all, this real estate may be investor quality and having a tenant in place is an asset beneficial to the seller and easy for the buyer.

I would advise the seller to create incentive to encourage the tenant to cooperate and based on my evaluation, the tenant will benefit or will be denied. 

Of course I will have a meet up with the tenant, get a read on their situation, and plan the most convenient strategy for them. I want them to know they are important part of the plan and their agility and co-operation will not go unrewarded.

I think it depends on whether the tenants keep the home in a  presentable condition.  Have the seller sit down with the tenant and ask for the tenants cooperation to sell the house.  The tenant on occasion may not want to move and sabotage the sale.  I would consider an incentive to the tenant for allowing them to show the home with less than 24 hour notice.

Bribe them, offer an incentive for helping you to get a full price offer.

The best bet is - tenants move out. Provide the incentive to the tenants.

This is difficult - with tenants in the property. Yes, better to wait until tenants move out.

We are about ready to list several duplexes that the seller wants the tenants to stay in place so I was hoping to hear some good incentive stories for tenants who reamined for the duration of the sale.  Jill has some good ideas that could help.

I agree the most of the other posts - if the seller can have the property listed without the tenants, that is best.  And sometimes sellers have to be prepared to give "cash for keys" if they need to move the tenant out quicker.

I would like the home to be vacant, cleaned up and repaired before putting it on the market

It is a much better idea to wait until the tennants move out, but one incentive that could be provided to the tenants is to have a reduced rent if they keep the property in show-ready condition each day.

If it works for the Seller to wait then I always suggest waiting until the tenants are out and we can do some nice staging for the property. It the Seller needs a quicker sale or continued income while it's listed then giving the tenants a strong incentive (usually reduced rent or a bonus upon sale) helps. One thing that makes things smoother is grouping showing schedules as much as possible so the tenants are less inconvenienced.

Hi Jeff -- a good real life question.

I recently had this discussion with a client and we discussed various options including waiting as well as offering an incentive.

In this particular example -- he is waiting until the tenants vacate -- not great furnishings,  not the best housekeeping plus a big dog along with a couple of other issues.

I have seen examples of tenants maintaining a property in better condition than some owner occupants.  

It depends but overall I think having a tenant vacate the property is usually the best plan.

In my experience, it's much easier to sell oncea tenant vacates. Relying on tenants to allow showings and keep a home in showing condition is not always easy. If tenants are present, and you wish to have them show, I always encourage offering a financial incentive for the inonvenience.

In most cases, think it's best for the tenant to vacate the property.  It's also understandable for the property owner to want to continue to make money on their asset.

Providing an incentive to the tenant(s) for their cooperation is an option, but it is imperative that there is no reduction in rent, which will likely cause the tenants to attempt to stall the sale.

Any incentive should be given only after proof of cooperation and at the time of move out.

i think is better to wait till they move out if that's not an option; the seller should give some incentive to the tenant if they are helpful to sell the property