You didn't plan to be a landlord forever. But here you are, a tenant who doesn't pay on time, repairs that keep piling up, a rent roll that hasn't kept pace with your costs. I buy rental properties in any condition, with tenants in place, without requiring you to go through an eviction first.
The 11 p.m. call about the boiler. The tenant who's three months behind. The eviction filing you keep meaning to start. Whatever it was you bought the building for, this isn't it anymore.
Here's the part most landlords don't realize:
Tired-landlord burnout is one of the most common reasons small-portfolio owners sell. You bought a two-family or three-family, maybe years ago, maybe inherited it, and what started as income has become a second job you never wanted. The calls at 11 p.m., the turnover costs between tenants, the boiler that went out in January, the water bill that somehow doubled. Many landlords in this position don't realize they can sell without first clearing out their tenants.
The practical reality is that selling a tenant-occupied rental on the open market is hard. Most retail buyers want vacant possession, and most listing agents aren't equipped to market income property properly. That creates a gap, and that gap is where I operate. I buy occupied rentals, review the lease agreements and rent history before closing, and take the property subject to whatever tenancy situation exists. You walk away at closing; I handle what comes next.
Under the New Jersey Anti-Eviction Act and similar protections in Pennsylvania and Maryland, removing a long-term tenant just to deliver vacant possession can take six months to a year, and sometimes it doesn't work at all. Sellers who start this process before they have a real buyer often end up in court, having spent money on legal fees, with no buyer on the other end.
A tenant-occupied rental listed on the MLS without a clear showing schedule, income documentation, and a buyer pool that actually wants income property will sit. Retail buyers see "tenant occupied" and walk. The listing goes stale, the days-on-market count climbs, and you end up taking a worse price than you would have gotten from a direct buyer on day one.
Most buyers in the small multi-family market use financing. That means appraisals, income documentation, and lender scrutiny, and if your rent rolls are informal, your tenants are month-to-month, or the property needs work, the deal dies in underwriting. A cash buyer who understands operating rental property is the right counterparty for this transaction.
I underwrite rental properties the way an investor should: rent roll, lease terms, tenant history, operating costs, condition. I don't need the building delivered vacant, I don't need a certified rent roll, and I don't need you to have fixed anything first. My offer accounts for the property as it actually sits, existing tenants, deferred maintenance, and all.
New Jersey's Anti-Eviction Act (N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1) gives residential tenants extremely strong just-cause protections. The sale of a property alone is not grounds for eviction. In buildings of three or more units, a buyer who wants to personally occupy a unit must provide at least two full calendar months' notice and meet specific criteria. Newark layers additional protections through its rent control ordinance, and Jersey City's Rent Control Board caps annual increases for covered units. Hudson County courts, particularly in Jersey City, and Essex County courts, particularly Newark, both carry significant eviction backlogs that can extend timelines well beyond what landlords expect. If you own in these markets, waiting to evict before selling is often the wrong strategy.
Pennsylvania's Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 (68 P.S. § 250.101 et seq.) governs most residential tenancies. The state does not have statewide just-cause eviction protection, which makes month-to-month tenants easier to remove than in New Jersey, but the process still requires proper notice and a Magisterial District Judge hearing, which takes time. Philadelphia is the exception: Mayor Kenney signed the Good Cause Eviction Ordinance (Bill No. 170854) into law in January 2019, effective April 22, 2019, giving tenants on leases of less than one year the right to contest eviction at Philadelphia Municipal Court or the Fair Housing Commission unless the landlord can establish one of nine enumerated grounds. Outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's eviction process is relatively straightforward but still takes weeks, not days.
Maryland's eviction framework is governed by Maryland Code, Real Property Article § 8-401 et seq. and is generally faster than New Jersey's, a non-payment eviction in Maryland can resolve in as few as three to four weeks from filing through the District Court of Maryland. However, Baltimore City has implemented rent stabilization rules through its Rent Stabilization Ordinance, and Prince George's County requires landlords to hold a valid rental facility license before operating. Selling a rental with an active PG County license can trigger transfer disclosure requirements. In Baltimore City, the combination of aging housing stock, rent-stabilized units, and the city's concentrated problem-property enforcement through Baltimore Housing means many small landlords are effectively stuck, high carrying costs, limited rent upside, and a buyer pool that doesn't want the complexity. I do.
Three fields on the form. Or a text. Address is enough to start. I'll pull the basics myself.
I call you back, walk through what I saw, and give you a real cash number. Not a range. Not a "let me get back to you."
Seven days, three weeks, ninety days, your call. We sign at a title company. You leave with a wire.
No. Under New Jersey's Anti-Eviction Act (N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1), the sale of a property alone is not valid grounds for removing a residential tenant. I buy with tenants in place and take the property subject to existing tenancies. You don't need to start an eviction proceeding, or finish one, before we close.
I can still buy. A pending eviction filing in the Special Civil Part of Superior Court doesn't kill a deal. I factor the situation into my offer. You don't have to see the court case through to get out of the property.
It affects my underwriting, not my willingness to buy. Newark's rent control ordinance and the Jersey City Rent Control Board impose caps on rent increases and just-cause eviction requirements for covered units. I price for those constraints. You sell at current market value for an occupied property; I account for the operating reality going forward.
That's exactly the kind of property I buy. I'm not pricing a turnkey rental, I'm pricing in the work. Whether it's a failed boiler, a 25-year-old roof, knob-and-tube wiring, or a furnace that limped through its last season, I put a real number on it and we close without a repair credit negotiation at the end.
Yes. Most of what I buy in this region is small multi-family: two-families and three-families in Newark, Trenton, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. I understand the income approach, I know how to read a rent roll, and I don't need you to deliver the building vacant.
Three things. Name, phone, address. That's the start.