The inner ring northeast of the city has converted heavily to rental over the last twenty years, so the person calling me here is more often a landlord than a homeowner. Tired of it, behind on the numbers, or holding a house a tenant stopped paying for months ago.
Out Here It Is Mostly Landlords
Center Point and Tarrant have shifted a long way toward rental. A lot of the single family stock is owned by people who bought it as an investment years ago, some local and a good many not, and the ones who call me are usually finished with it.
The reasons repeat. Turnover costs more than the rent justifies. The last tenant did real damage. Management is eating the return. Or the owner has simply aged out of wanting the phone to ring.
The 2021 tornado that hit Fultondale carried on toward Center Point and Clay, and some of the damage from that is still in the housing stock here too.
You Do Not Have To Empty It First
This is the thing most owners get wrong. Listing an occupied rental means showings you need tenant cooperation for, and a retail buyer who wants it empty at closing, which puts the eviction on your side of the table before you can sell.
Selling direct removes both. No showings, and whether the tenant stays or goes becomes my problem after closing rather than a condition you have to satisfy before it.
Tell me whether there is a written lease, what the rent is, when it was last actually paid, where the deposit is held and whether anything has been filed in court. None of those answers disqualify a house, including the awkward ones.
Where the tenant left some time ago and the house has been standing empty since, the cost of that is set out under a Birmingham house that has been sitting empty.
If The House Is Somewhere Else
The short overview of what I buy across the Birmingham area is on the main Birmingham page.
What Listing Actually Nets You
Listing usually produces a higher gross price than a direct sale. Whether it produces a higher number in your account is a different question, and it is the one worth answering before you decide anything. Put your own figures in.
Commission is figured at 6 percent and seller closing costs at 2 percent, which are common but not universal. Carrying cost means taxes, insurance, utilities and upkeep. This is an illustration using your numbers, not an offer or an appraisal, and it deliberately assumes the listing sells at the price you entered.
The Numbers Behind That
| Line | Typical |
|---|---|
| Filing and court costs | Per eviction action |
| Attorney fees | If you use one, and most do |
| Lost rent during the process | Weeks to months |
| Turn and repair after they leave | Frequently significant |
| Management fees meanwhile | Still coming out |
| Agent commission at 6% | If you list it after all that |
This is the sequence owners assume they have to complete before selling. They do not. Every line above is a cost you can decline by selling occupied instead.
Who you are dealing with
Hi, I am Torian. I buy residential property with my own capital in Birmingham and across Jefferson County, through TOPSICO LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company.
I am not an agent and not a broker. Nothing here is a listing and I am not representing you in a sale. If you want your house exposed to the open market, an agent will usually get you a higher price, and I will tell you that rather than talk you out of it.