Renting and selling your home [don't do both]
The most important thing when selling your home in today's Charleston real estate market is to make it available for buyers to view. There are too many available homes for sale for buyers to choose from that a home that is difficult to view will sell because after all, if you can't see it, what are the chances that you'll buy it.
Tenants have rights including the option of requiring 24 hour notice for any showing appointment. That doesn't mean that all tenants insist on 24 hour notice but some do and some take it a step further and are basically uncooperative and won't bother to either answer the request for showing or simply decline it.
And let's talk a minute about the condition. Of course, most Charleston real estate agents will tell their sellers to do several things in order to get their homes ready for showing. First of all, declutter. Since you are moving anyway, pack up all the stuff you don't really need and either put it into storage or donate it to a worthy charity. Secondly, keep the home clean with food put away and no dishes in the sink and make sure the bathrooms are spotless. Let' face it, a tenant who has nothing to gain and possibly having to move when the home is sold has no incentive to maintain the home in pristine condition.
I will of course show (or attempt to show) any home that my client wants to see but here is a list of 3 reasons that I don't want to show a home.
Occupied by an uncooperative tenant
No lockbox
A short sale with both of the above
Sadly, experience shows that number 3 is all too common. And here is a bonus reason. Not using Centralized Showing Service to set appointments to view a home. The Charleston MLS uses a fantastic showing service as part of our membership where agents can call one phone number and arrange showings. It's highly efficient.
And we know that all agents don't necessarily answer their phones, check their email or respond to requests in a timely way. So if you have to depend on getting hold of an agent to set an appointment and there isn't a lockbox on the house so that the agent has to meet you and there are tenants as well, it's really not the most efficient and effective way to sell a home. And it's probably a short sale anyway.