Our seller was a tired landlord, and he had reached the end of it. He wanted to cash out, skip the hassle and expense of working with an agent, and stop being responsible for a building he no longer wanted to own.
There was a complication. He had started an eviction — but he hadn't started it correctly, and it was a long way from over. In Wisconsin the notice stage is where most self-filed evictions come apart: serve the wrong notice, serve it the wrong way, or count the days wrong, and the court sends you back to the beginning. That is roughly where things stood when he called us.
Meanwhile the tenants were still in the property and still behind on rent.
An occupied rental with a half-started eviction is close to unsellable on the open market.
We bought the property as soon as title was ready — with the tenants still living in it. The seller did not have to deliver a vacant building, and he did not have to finish the eviction he'd started.
After closing, we started the notices over, properly and legally, from the beginning. That is our problem to take on, and we would rather do it right from step one than inherit a defective filing.
Two things then happened that we did not take for granted:
On price he was a stickler, and fair enough — he knew what the building was worth to him. We paid his initial asking price.
He walked away from the property, the tenants and the eviction in one transaction, with no agent commission, no repairs, and a cheque for back rent he had assumed was gone. The building went on to be renovated and returned to service.
If you are weighing routes, our side-by-side comparison of selling options lays out the numbers honestly, and cash buyer vs. realtor in Milwaukee goes deeper.
Tenant-occupied sales are routine for us, and the same few things trip owners up:
We buy rental property with tenants in place, houses that need work, inherited property and homes with tax liens or title problems across the Milwaukee metro.
We buy across the City of Milwaukee and throughout Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington, Racine, Kenosha, Walworth, Jefferson and Dane counties — including West Allis, Wauwatosa, Greenfield, South Milwaukee, Oak Creek, Franklin, Menomonee Falls, Mequon and West Bend. See the full list of areas we serve.
Yes. We buy occupied and vacant rentals. With tenants in place we take the property subject to the existing leases and handle the transition ourselves — you do not need to give notice, chase anyone out, or manage a vacancy on our behalf.
Yes. This property had plaster walls and radiator heat, and we kept the radiators. Older Milwaukee housing stock is what we work in — the age of the systems is priced into the offer, not used as a reason to walk.
Generally not. You would be funding a renovation, carrying the vacancy while it happens, and absorbing whatever the building reveals along the way — then selling into the same market. Selling as-is transfers all of that.
It is certainly simpler. A vacant unit means no tenant coordination, no lease assignment and no showings around someone else's schedule. But an occupied unit is not a problem for us either.
That is common and it is manageable. Delinquent taxes are paid off from the proceeds at closing. Wisconsin's process runs from a tax certificate issued on September 1 through a two-year redemption period before in-rem foreclosure, so there is usually more runway than owners think — but not unlimited. Our tax foreclosure guide lays out the timeline.
No. Open orders and citations come up in title and get handled as part of the transaction. You do not need to clear them before selling to us.
The same way as any other property — what the finished house is worth in that neighbourhood, less the renovation it needs, less holding and transaction costs. We do not price off rent rolls or cap rates on single-family, because the exit is a retail sale.
Usually, yes. Tell us the date that works and we will build the closing around it. Speak to your own accountant about the tax treatment — we can accommodate the timing, but we are not tax advisers.
