How it works · Selling tenant-occupied

A tenant isn't a problem. It's a strategy.

Selling a condo with a tenant in place has two paths to top dollar: market it as an income asset to the right investor, or unlock a vacancy through a fair, compliant buyout and sell to the full market. We run both — and let the numbers decide.

Schedule a video call → See the strategy
The cap-rate reality

What is your condo actually yielding?

Between HOA dues, property tax, and insurance, most San Francisco rental condos net far less than their owners assume — and for financed owners, the true cash-on-cash return is often below 2%. Drag the sliders and run your own numbers.

Live · your yield

Run your condo's numbers.

Three inputs. Property tax (~1.18%) and an insurance estimate are applied automatically.
Condo value$1,200,000
Monthly rent$4,200
Monthly HOA dues$950
Special assessments not included — they only make this worse.
Net unleveraged yield
1.7%
Gross yield (rent ÷ value)4.2%
Annual HOA + tax + insurance−$27,660
Net operating income$22,740
Same equity at 6% commercial NNN$72,000/yr
Illustrative estimates only — not tax, legal, or investment advice. Financed owners: subtract mortgage interest and the picture typically turns negative.
The premise

Most agents treat a tenant as an obstacle. The right buyer treats it as income.

A tenant-occupied condo quietly costs you money when it's marketed like a vacant one and shown to buyers who don't want a lease. The value is unlocked by choosing the right path deliberately — and executing it with the analysis, legal work, and targeted outreach it deserves.

Path A · Sell occupied

Market it as an income asset

Position the condo the way investors actually evaluate it: rent roll, lease terms, in-place yield, and upside to market rent. Then take it directly to the condo investors already in the Condo Market index — not the open market at large.

Path B · Deliver vacant

Unlock the vacancy, compliantly

A vacant condo reaches the full buyer pool and almost always commands more per square foot. San Francisco tenant buyouts are heavily regulated — required disclosures, Rent Board filings, rescission periods — so the buyout is structured with licensed legal guidance, fair to the tenant, and defensible.

The decision is driven by math, not guesswork — occupied sale price vs. vacant sale price, net of buyout and carrying costs, modeled side by side before anything else happens.
The strategy

Two paths. One goal: your top dollar.

01

Model both paths, then decide

Before anything else, we run the numbers on both: what your unit sells for occupied, versus what it sells for vacant net of a fair buyout and carrying costs. Building-level comps from the Condo Market catalogue anchor both sides of the analysis.

On many condos, delivering the unit vacant lifts the sale price by more than the cost of a compliant buyout — but only the side-by-side analysis proves it for your unit.

Occupied-vs-vacant net analysis · Building comps · Carrying-cost model
02

Structure a compliant tenant buyout

When vacant is the higher-value path, the buyout is negotiated fairly and legally. San Francisco's rules are strict — pre-negotiation disclosures, Rent Board filing requirements, and rescission periods — and done wrong, a buyout is void or worse. Licensed legal counsel navigates the ordinance so the vacancy is clean and defensible.

A well-structured buyout is often a win for both sides: the tenant receives a meaningful payment to relocate; the owner unlocks a materially higher vacant sale price.

Buyout agreements · Rent Ordinance compliance · Legal counsel
03

Make the tenancy legible to investors

If we sell occupied, investors buy numbers, not emotion. We analyze the tenancy in place — current rent vs. market rent, lease terms and expirations, payment history, deposit status — and build the case for what the unit could produce, so the buyer sees both the in-place return and the upside.

A unit renting below market isn't a liability to an investor. Positioned correctly, "under-market rent" becomes "value-add opportunity."

Lease audit · Rent analysis · Market-rent study
04

Build the offering memorandum

The condo is packaged as a professional investment offering: rent roll, income and expenses, cap rate and cash-on-cash at the asking price, HOA financial posture, and the value-add thesis. The same institutional-grade package a commercial broker would prepare — so a serious buyer can diligence it without friction.

Offering memorandum · Building analysis · Cap-rate modeling
05

We already know the buyers

This is where Condo Market is different. The platform maintains a working index of the actual investors who own condos across the catalogued buildings — ranked by units held, where they buy, and capacity to move. Your buyer list exists before your unit is even ready.

Ownership data · Portfolio ranking · Investor index
06

Direct outreach, then hard negotiation

Tailored, verified outreach invites each ranked investor to review the offering. Because the memorandum has already answered their diligence questions, negotiation stays focused on price and terms — cap-rate framing, lease contingencies, close timeline — protecting your net proceeds.

Verified outreach · Segmented campaigns · Negotiation
07

Defer the gain with a 1031 exchange

A tenant-occupied condo is usually an investment property — which means the gain likely qualifies for a 1031 exchange. Instead of paying capital-gains tax on the sale, the proceeds can roll into a like-kind property with the tax deferred. The sale and the exchange timeline are coordinated together.

Coordinated 1031 timeline · Qualified intermediary · Replacement sourcing
Why phase 05 is different

We don't list and hope. We already know the buyers.

Most agents put a tenant-occupied condo on the open market and wait for an investor to wander in. Condo Market did the opposite: built and maintains an index of the investors who actually own condos in the catalogued buildings — and the buildings they buy in.

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Condo investors indexed
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Multi-unit holders (2+ condos)
0
Buildings catalogued
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Units in the database
Figures reflect the maintained investor index and update as it grows. Every owner is stored as first-party data; do-not-contact preferences are recorded and honored.
After the sale

Don't hand the gain to the IRS.

Because a tenant-occupied condo is an investment, the gain usually qualifies for a 1031 exchange — letting you reinvest the full proceeds into your next property and defer the capital-gains tax entirely. It's the natural next move.

See the 1031 exchange path →
Deferral mechanics · DSTs · The 45/180-day clocks — explained

Own a condo with a tenant?

A no-obligation video call to run the occupied-vs-vacant numbers on your unit — anchored to your building's actual sales data — and map the right path.

Schedule a video call →
No listing required · No obligation · Your building's data, your numbers