Complicated situations
Selling in a Complicated Situation?
An inherited house, a home that needs work, a tenant in place, a move from out of state, or a mortgage that has become hard to keep up with. Life rarely waits for a perfect time to sell. Michael O’Neal helps homeowners sort out their options calmly, privately and without pressure.
Start with your situation
What is going on with the property?
Pick the one that fits best. Each link goes to a guide or a section with the practical steps, the questions to settle first, and what Michael can and cannot help with.
- Few showings, no offers or an expired listingWhy isn’t my house selling?
- An inherited homeSelling an inherited home
- Repairs or deferred maintenanceSell as-is or renovate first?
- Selling from out of stateSelling from a distance
- A home with tenantsSelling a rental with a tenant
- Several rental homesSelling a rental portfolio
- Downsizing or a move to be near familyDownsizing
- DivorceReal estate during divorce
- Mortgage payments are hard to keep up withOptions when payments are difficult
How Michael helps
A broker’s job in a complicated sale
Michael is a Texas real estate broker (license #624124). In a complicated sale that means pricing the home from recent sales, laying out the selling options side by side, coordinating the people involved (title company, attorney, lender, property manager, family members) and handling the sale itself.
It does not mean legal, tax or financial advice. When a question belongs to an attorney, a CPA, a HUD-approved housing counselor or your loan servicer, he will say so and help you get the question in front of the right person.
Every option, side by side
- List on the open market through the MLS and HAR.com, usually the highest price, with time and preparation.
- Sell as-is to a retail buyer, with the condition priced in.
- Sell for cash to an investor, often faster and simpler, usually for less.
- Stay for a while after closing with a leaseback, when a buyer agrees in writing. See sell now, move later.
OfferFlow is a separate cash-buying company that Michael O’Neal is affiliated with, so he has a financial interest in any OfferFlow purchase. You can always list your home on the open market instead, choose another buyer, or compare both. Listing services are provided through Keller Williams Realty Northeast.
Selling from a distance
Selling a Houston-area home from out of state
Many owners sell without being in Houston for most of the process. What usually takes planning is access, condition and signing.
- Decide who holds keys and who can let in inspectors, appraisers, contractors and buyers.
- Keep utilities on and insurance current while the home is vacant, and ask your insurer about vacancy terms.
- Get bids for any repairs before you decide whether to make them; photos and video walk-throughs help.
- Ask the title company early how you can sign closing documents from where you live (mail-away, mobile notary or electronic options) and how sale proceeds will be sent.
- Confirm wiring instructions by phone with a number you already know. Never act on emailed wiring changes.
What Michael coordinates
Access and showings, vendors and bids, photography, offers and negotiation, and regular updates by phone, text or email, so you are not managing the sale from across the country alone.
Tenant-occupied homes
Selling a rental with a tenant in place
A lease does not end because the home is sold. The plan depends on the lease terms and on whether the buyer will be an investor who keeps the tenant or an owner who wants to move in.
- Read the lease first: its end date, notice terms and what it says about showings and entry.
- Give the tenant clear notice and a predictable showing schedule; cooperation shows in how the home presents.
- Gather the rent roll, lease, deposit amount and any repair history. Investor buyers ask for them.
- Under Texas Property Code §92.105, when an owner’s interest ends, the new owner becomes responsible for returning tenants’ security deposits unless the deposits are handled at closing as the statute describes. Confirm how your title company will handle them. Texas Property Code §92.105
Several rental homes?
A group of rentals can be sold one by one or as a package to an investor. Michael is selling his own portfolio of rental homes as a package and can walk you through how that works.
Rental portfolio sale · Investment properties · What buyers of occupied rentals check
Downsizing
Downsizing or moving closer to family
The hard part of downsizing is usually timing: selling one home, buying or renting the next, and sorting a lifetime of belongings in between.
- Decide the order: sell first, buy first, or line both up for the same week.
- Ask whether a leaseback after closing would give you time to move once the sale is final.
- Start with the rooms you use least; donation, consignment and estate-sale companies can help with what you are not taking.
- Talk with a tax professional about how the sale affects you; the IRS home-sale exclusion has its own rules.
More time to move
Our sell now, move later options explain how a seller can stay after closing when a buyer agrees in writing.
Talk it through
Request a Confidential Selling-Options Conversation
Tell Michael a little about the property and what is going on. He will call or text you back privately, listen first, and lay out the options that fit, including the ones that do not involve him.
- No obligation and no pressure.
- Nothing about your situation is published or shared for marketing.
- You choose whether to list, sell for cash, wait, or do nothing.