Sell a House With Tenants in San Antonio

The military-rental pattern

Joint Base San Antonio — Lackland, Randolph, and Fort Sam Houston — cycles a great many households through Bexar County every year, and a familiar sequence follows. A house bought during one assignment. Orders arrive. The house becomes a rental rather than a sale. A property manager takes over, and then years pass.

The result is a large stock of single-family rentals whose owners have not seen them in a long time and cannot practically supervise repairs. Those houses are usually in worse condition than the last management report suggested, and the owner has no good way to find out without flying in.

Nothing has to change for the tenant

The lease is an interest in the property, so it continues past closing on the same terms — same rent, same end date, same rights. At closing the leases are assigned, deposits and prepaid rent transfer, and rent is prorated for the month.

Texas is specific about the deposit: it goes to the new owner, who becomes liable to the tenant for it, and the selling landlord's liability ends once it has been delivered and the tenant notified. Do not refund deposits at closing or treat them as sale proceeds.

No showings, which matters with a tenant

Texas does not set a statutory minimum notice for landlord entry — the lease governs — but repeated showings are still the fastest way to damage a tenant relationship, and an unhappy tenant can make a conventional sale considerably harder.

We do not need showings, open houses, or interior photographs of occupied rooms. Usually one walkthrough, scheduled when it suits the tenant. For an out-of-state owner, that also means nobody has to fly in to let people through the house.

What San Antonio rentals typically need

• Roofs with hail damage or multiple claims — the April 2016 storm is still in many of these files
• Pier-and-beam settlement in the pre-1950 housing near downtown, or slab movement further out
• Cast iron and galvanized plumbing in older houses
• Original panels and cloth-insulated wiring remnants
• HVAC systems that cannot hold a San Antonio August
• Deferred turnover work across several tenancies
• Open City of San Antonio code cases on a neglected property

Selling it from wherever you are

The title company sends documents for signature before a notary wherever you live, or arranges a remote online notarization, and wires the proceeds. A power of attorney can sometimes be used but has to be approved in advance.

Bring the lease, a current rent ledger, the deposit accounting, any notices given, and any filed eviction. Those documents are what set the pace on an occupied closing — not the condition of the house.

Frequently asked questions