Tired landlord, Texas
Sell Your Texas Rental — Tenant-in-Place OK, No Eviction Required
The Section 8 inspections, the distance management, the problem tenant you have been managing for two years, the deferred maintenance you do not want to fund, the capital gains exposure you have been quietly worried about — every reason landlords actually exit. We are the buyer who already speaks the language. Under Texas law, the lease passes with the deed; you do not need to deliver vacant possession or finish an eviction first. We step into your position as landlord at the closing table.
Who reaches out
What "tired landlord" actually means — the five patterns we hear
"Tired landlord" is shorthand for a particular kind of exit conversation: the owner is not in distress, the unit is not in crisis, but the math no longer justifies the management. Sometimes the trigger is one specific event — a HUD inspection failure, a tenant who stopped paying, a furnace that finally died. More often it is the accumulation of friction: the late-night calls, the property manager who keeps changing, the distance, the cap rate that looked great in 2014 and looks ordinary in 2026. Five patterns cover almost every call we get from Texas landlords ready to sell.
Out-of-state and the distance is the problem
You moved out of Texas a decade ago and held onto the rental because the numbers penciled out. They still pencil out. But you do not actually want to manage a Texas property from California, Colorado, or New York anymore, the property manager you used to trust has changed hands twice, and the unit needs work that you would rather not coordinate from two thousand miles away. Most of our out-of-state landlord calls fit this shape. The exit is rational, not desperate.
Section 8 / HUD bureaucracy fatigue
The annual HQS inspection cycle, the re-inspection if the first one finds a failed item, the payment-standard cap that has not kept up with the open-market rent in your zip code, the recertification paperwork every year, the case-manager who left and the new one who is six weeks behind. Section 8 cash flow is real, and many landlords run it for years successfully — but the bureaucratic load is also real, and burnout is the specific reason a meaningful share of our voucher-property calls come in.
Problem tenant — eviction, arrears, damage
Behind on rent. Mid-eviction in JP court. Damage from the last turnover that never fully got addressed. A lease dispute that has been smoldering for months. We buy units with active tenant issues — that is a category we already underwrite to, and we either continue the eviction in our name post-close or shift to a cash-for-keys negotiation depending on where the case is when we take ownership.
Deferred maintenance from a long tenancy
A tenant who lived in the unit for six years, eight years, or longer, finally moves out. The walkthrough is a list — flooring at end of life, HVAC limping, roof past its rated lifespan, kitchen and bath cosmetics never updated. You can either invest the $20K to $50K to make the unit retail-ready (and then sell or re-tenant), or sell the unit as-is in the condition the tenancy left it in. We underwrite to that work as part of the offer.
Retirement — liquidate the portfolio (1031 or cash out)
You have been buying, holding, and refinancing for twenty or thirty years. The portfolio is appreciated, the depreciation schedule has been running, and now you want to either roll proceeds into a passive asset class via 1031 (DST, NNN triple-net retail, a different state) or simply take the cash and exit the landlord business entirely. Either path works with us — we close fast enough for the 1031 calendar and we coordinate with your QI directly.
Whatever the trigger, the operational ask is usually the same: a written cash offer, a tight close, and a buyer who understands that the tenant relationship is part of the asset — not a problem to be resolved before the transaction can start. That last point is the load-bearing one and the one most landlords are unsure about, so it gets its own section next.
The load-bearing section
How tenant-in-place purchases actually work in Texas
This is the section to read twice. The single biggest misconception we hear from Texas landlords getting ready to sell is that they need to deliver vacant possession at closing — that they need to evict the tenant, wait out the lease, or negotiate cash-for-keys before they can transact. That assumption is wrong, and it costs landlords months and tens of thousands of dollars in unnecessary friction. The actual Texas law is simpler than the conventional wisdom.
Here is how a tenant-in-place purchase actually works, what the tenant's rights look like after the sale, and why this is the single largest differentiator between selling to us and selling to a retail buyer.
The lease passes with the deed
In Texas, a residential lease is a property interest that runs with the land, not a personal contract between you and the tenant. When we record the warranty deed at closing, we automatically step into your position as landlord — meaning the lease continues unchanged, the tenant's rent obligation transfers to us, the security deposit becomes our liability under Texas Property Code section 92.105, and we inherit every right and obligation you held under the existing lease. The tenant does not need to consent, does not need to sign anything new, and does not have grounds to terminate the lease simply because ownership changed hands. This is automatic. It happens at the closing table without any action from the tenant at all.
Tenant rights are preserved — that is the law and we operate inside it
We want to be honest about this: the lease transfer protects the tenant as much as it protects the property. We cannot raise rent mid-lease just because we are the new owner. We cannot evict for no reason. We cannot change the lease terms unilaterally. We step into exactly the position you held — no more, no less. For a tired landlord, that is actually a feature: the transaction does not disrupt the rent roll, does not create a vacancy, does not require notice to the tenant before closing, and does not give the tenant a reason to lawyer up. We close, we send the tenant a "new landlord" letter with our payment address, and rent collection continues without interruption.
Month-to-month tenants — 30-day notice is ours to give post-close
If the tenant is on a month-to-month tenancy at closing, the standard Texas notice to terminate is 30 days (or whatever the written lease specifies — some month-to-month agreements require 60 days, and we honor whatever is in the document). That notice becomes ours to give after we take ownership. In most cases, we keep the tenant in place and continue collecting rent; in some cases, we issue notice and turn the unit over to renovate. That decision is downstream of the closing and is based on our underwriting of the unit, not on anything you need to coordinate beforehand. You do not deliver a vacant unit. You do not give notice on our behalf.
Fixed-term leases — the lease runs out
If the tenant is on a fixed-term lease (12 months, 24 months, longer), that lease runs to its scheduled end date unless the tenant violates terms or both sides agree in writing to terminate early. We do not terminate fixed-term leases without cause — that is not how Texas landlord-tenant law works, and it is not how we underwrite the asset. The remaining lease term is part of the purchase math: a unit with eight months left on a $1,800 lease is valued differently from a unit with two months left on an above-market lease. We tell you in the offer how we are treating the remaining term.
Security deposit transfers at the closing table
The security deposit for the current tenant transfers to us at closing as a credit on the settlement statement — meaning you do not cut a separate check, the title company handles it inside the closing math, and the deposit becomes our obligation under Texas Property Code section 92.105 the moment funds wire. That statute makes the new owner liable for the existing security deposit upon transfer of ownership, so the tenant's deposit position is preserved without interruption. If your records on the deposit are imperfect — common with long-time landlords — we work with whatever the documentation shows and the number gets reconciled at closing rather than haggled afterward.
Why this is the major differentiator vs. a retail sale
A retail buyer — someone using mortgage financing to buy the house as their primary residence — almost always wants vacant possession at closing. They want to move in. The lender often requires owner-occupancy within 60 days. The inspection contingency wants interior access. The appraisal needs interior comps. All of that creates pressure on you to deliver an empty unit before the transaction can fund, which means you either wait out the lease, pay cash-for-keys, or run an eviction. Selling to us bypasses every step of that — we are buying the asset including the tenancy, the rent roll continues, and the tenant relationship is on us starting the day funds wire.
This is general information about Texas landlord-tenant law for orienting sellers, not legal advice. The Texas Property Code sections governing residential tenancy run from chapter 92 forward; the Texas State Law Library landlord-tenant guides are a useful public reference. For specific questions about your lease, your eviction status, or your security-deposit position, talk to a Texas landlord-tenant attorney.
Section 8 / HUD vouchers
Section 8 / HUD vouchers — we buy these too
Voucher-property calls are a meaningful share of our landlord intake, and the burnout pattern is consistent enough that it deserves its own section. The Section 8 cash flow is reliable — the public housing authority pays the contracted portion on time — but the operational load is real, and we hear the same fatigue points across every metro: the annual inspection cycle, the payment-standard caps, the recertification paperwork, the case-manager turnover. We already underwrite to these mechanics. Here is what that means in practice.
HUD HQS inspections — we know the playbook
The Housing Quality Standards inspection regime is detailed and the pass/fail items are specific — handrails, smoke detector placement, GFCI outlets in wet areas, peeling paint in pre-1978 units, broken windows, water heater pressure relief lines, working appliances. We know what trips an inspection, we have seen every failure mode, and we underwrite the unit assuming we will need to address current and likely-future HQS items at our cost after closing.
Payment-standard caps vs. market rent
Each public housing authority publishes payment standards by bedroom count and zip code, and the cap often lags open-market rent in appreciating submarkets — particularly in DFW. We model the voucher-portion rent against the market-rent comp when underwriting; if the unit is below market because the payment standard caps it, we account for that in the offer math rather than penalizing it.
Recertification and annual paperwork
Tenant recertification, lease renewals tied to the HAP contract, rent-increase requests routed through the PHA — the paperwork stack moves every year. We inherit it. We have systems for processing recertifications, communicating with PHA caseworkers, and tracking the calendar. None of that is your problem after closing.
Transition or continue — your call at the offer stage
Some landlords want us to continue the Section 8 tenancy under the existing HAP contract — assuming we and the PHA both consent to assignment, that is usually straightforward. Other landlords specifically want the unit out of the program post-close. We can plan for either, and the operational path looks similar from your side either way — you sell, we take over, the tenant relationship is ours.
One honest framing: many tired landlords specifically reach out because they want OUT of Section 8 management. We do not need you to terminate the voucher relationship before selling — that adds friction, costs months, and is the exact opposite of why you called. We close, we take on the HAP contract or transition the unit per the lease terms, and you stop dealing with the PHA the day funds wire.
Multifamily and portfolios
Multifamily (duplex / fourplex / small portfolios)
We buy multifamily and small portfolios in addition to single-family rentals. The underwriting math is different — multifamily values off cap rate and NOI, SFR values off comparable sales — but the operational process from your side is the same: we underwrite the rent roll, the condition, the lease terms, and the comps, then present a written offer. Three categories cover most of what we see.
Duplex / triplex / fourplex (1-4 units)
Properties of one to four units fall under residential financing rules and behave operationally similar to single-family rentals from an acquisition standpoint. The rent roll is small, the lease structures are usually identical across units, and the underwriting comes down to per-unit rent, current occupancy, condition, and a comp set for similar small-multi properties in the submarket. We close on these regularly, with all tenancies in place.
5+ unit small multifamily (commercial)
Once a building crosses five units, financing becomes commercial and the valuation method shifts to NOI divided by market cap rate — meaning the rent roll, expense detail, and vacancy assumptions drive the offer more than comparable sales. We buy these on a case-by-case basis. The diligence is heavier (T-12, rent roll, utility allocation, deferred-maintenance estimate) and the closing timeline is longer, but the principle is the same: tenant in place is fine, no eviction required.
Small portfolios (3-10 SFR rentals as a bundle)
A common retirement-stage exit: three to ten single-family rentals owned by the same landlord, often acquired over many years, sold together in one transaction. We underwrite each property individually and structure a single closing with one wire (or a few staggered closings if needed for 1031 timing). Portfolio deals are often cleaner than per-property sales — fewer title companies, fewer signatures, fewer scheduling conflicts.
Multifamily and portfolios are not a different product on our side. The math is different. The process is the same: tell us what you have, we underwrite, we present a written offer, we close at title with tenancies in place. Operationally the only thing that changes is the diligence period — small-multi commercial deals typically need 21 to 30 days of diligence versus the 7-day close we run on clean-title SFR.
1031 exchange
1031 exchange — coordinating the rollover
If you are selling a Texas rental to roll the proceeds into another investment property, the federal 1031 exchange rules govern how the transaction needs to be structured. We are not your tax advisor and the structure should be confirmed by your CPA and your Qualified Intermediary — but we coordinate the sale to fit inside the 1031 calendar routinely. Here is the practical shape of how it works on our side.
You need a Qualified Intermediary
A 1031 exchange requires that the sale proceeds never touch your hands — instead, the funds wire from the sale to a Qualified Intermediary (QI), and the QI then disburses to the seller of the replacement property when you close on the new one. This is tax law, not our area. You hire the QI separately; many Texas exchange companies handle this routinely and the QI fee is modest relative to the deferred-tax benefit. If you do not have a QI lined up, your CPA can typically recommend one.
45-day identification, 180-day exchange windows
In a forward exchange (sell first, then buy), the clock starts the day you close the relinquished property. You have 45 days from that date to formally identify the candidate replacement property (or properties), and 180 days total to close on it. Reverse exchanges (buy first, then sell) have their own structure and timing rules — your QI handles the mechanics. We can close on a tight timeline as the buyer of your relinquished property to keep your 45-day clock from starting earlier than you need.
Contract language and title coordination
Your QI will often request specific contract language assigning your interest in the purchase agreement to them, and the title company's settlement statement needs to reflect the proceeds wiring to the QI rather than to you. Both are standard accommodations on our side. The title companies we close with in Texas have closed exchange transactions many times — this is not a novel ask.
Talk to your CPA about depreciation recapture and capital gains
One reason landlords run 1031 exchanges instead of taking the cash: the depreciation you have been claiming against rental income over the holding period gets recaptured at sale (currently taxed at up to 25 percent federally on the recaptured portion) and any appreciation above your adjusted basis is subject to federal capital gains. Texas has no state income tax, which softens the total bill, but the federal exposure on a long-held appreciated rental can be substantial. A 1031 defers both. We are not your CPA — these numbers should be modeled with someone who knows your full tax situation — but the magnitude is often the reason landlords structure the exit as an exchange rather than a straight cash-out.
Nothing on this page is tax or legal advice. 1031 exchanges, depreciation recapture, and capital gains treatment depend on facts and circumstances specific to your situation. The IRS like-kind exchange guidance is a starting public reference, not a substitute for a CPA.
How it works
Our process for landlord exits
Four steps. The whole thing is built around the assumption that you are investor-aware, financially literate, and want concrete numbers rather than a sales pitch — we treat the conversation as one operator talking to another. Tenant-in-place is the default. Vacant possession is not required. 1031 timing, eviction-in-progress, Section 8, and small multifamily are all underwritten patterns, not edge cases.
- 1
Tell us about the property — address, rent roll, lease terms, tenant status
Address. Current monthly rent and what the tenant actually pays vs. what the lease says. Lease type — month-to-month, fixed-term and how many months remain, Section 8 HAP. Tenant status — paying, behind, mid-eviction. Security deposit on file and what your records show. Approximate condition. Why you are selling and what your timeline looks like. That is the whole intake. We do not need photos. We do not need formal financials — a back-of-envelope rent roll is plenty.
- 2
We pull title, condition, comps, and market rent
Title pulls the chain — current liens, tax status, any judgments or HOA issues. We pull comparable retail sales for the submarket, comparable rent comps to verify the market rent against what you are currently collecting, and an estimate of any deferred-maintenance work the unit needs. If we need an interior walkthrough, we coordinate it on the tenant's schedule and with their permission — we do not need access in many cases because the offer math can be built from exterior plus rent roll plus comps.
- 3
Written offer factoring in tenant situation, lease term, and repair backlog
We send a written offer that shows our work. Comparable retail sales, market rent comps, renovation budget at investor-retail rates, the remaining lease term and rent stream, the tenant situation (cooperative, behind, mid-eviction), security deposit reconciliation, and the margin we need to underwrite the risk. What you sign is what funds — no inspection-driven renegotiation, no surprise reduction the week before closing because we found something we should have asked about up front.
- 4
Close at title — tenant stays, deposit transfers, you exit
The title company opens escrow. They clear liens and tax arrears at the closing table out of proceeds. The security deposit transfers as a credit on the settlement statement. The lease transfers automatically by operation of Texas law. A mobile notary comes to your home or office wherever you live (we close hundreds of miles of distance routinely). You sign, funds wire, and the tenant relationship becomes ours starting that day. We send the tenant a "new landlord" letter the same week.
Our broader process is documented on the how it works page, and our typical answers to seller questions live in the FAQ. The general cash-offer process is on the main sell page.
What we DON'T require
What we DO NOT require before closing a rental sale
A lot of the friction landlords assume exists in selling a tenanted property is friction that simply is not part of how we transact. Four things in particular come up repeatedly as assumed prerequisites — none of them are.
No eviction before sale
You do not need to finish — or even start — an eviction before we will write an offer. We buy units mid-eviction and either continue the action in our name post-close or pivot to cash-for-keys depending on what makes more sense from where the case sits.
No tenant cooperation for the sale itself
We do not need the tenant to approve, sign, or consent to the sale. In most cases we do not need the tenant to grant access for an interior walkthrough either — the offer math is built from exterior plus rent roll plus comps plus what you tell us about the unit's interior condition.
No vacant possession
We are not retail buyers. We do not need an empty unit at closing. The tenant staying in place is the default assumption, and the offer is built around it. This is the biggest single difference between selling to us and selling on the open market.
No repairs or turnover work
Deferred maintenance, end-of-life flooring, dated kitchens and baths, HVAC past its rated lifespan, Section 8 HQS items pending — we underwrite to the work. You do not fund the turn, you do not coordinate contractors, and you do not pass a final inspection on our behalf.
Statewide service area
Where we buy Texas rentals
Statewide. The DFW suburbs are our densest single-family rental footprint — Garland, Mesquite, Arlington, Irving, and parts of Dallas proper are the markets where our SFR-rental acquisition volume concentrates, with strong activity in north Dallas suburbs like Plano, McKinney, and Frisco as well. Small multifamily and small portfolios we underwrite across the entire state. Out-of-state landlords with one or two units in a Texas market most cash buyers will not visit are exactly the calls we are built to handle.
Cities with dedicated guides
Each city page walks through the local rental, foreclosure, and market context. If your rental sits in one of these markets, the city page goes deeper on what is specific to that county.
Major metros — densest rental footprint
We buy Texas rentals across every major metro. The DFW suburbs run our heaviest SFR-rental acquisition volume. Small multifamily and small portfolios we underwrite statewide on a case-by-case basis.
- Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex — Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, Arlington, Irving, Frisco, McKinney, Denton, Garland, Mesquite, Richardson, and surrounding suburbs. Densest SFR rental footprint.
- Houston metro — Houston proper, Pasadena, Pearland, Sugar Land, The Woodlands.
- Austin and San Antonio metros — Austin, San Antonio, Round Rock, Cedar Park, New Braunfels.
- East Texas — Tyler, Longview, Marshall, Nacogdoches, Lufkin, Palestine.
- Central and West Texas — Waco, Killeen, Temple, Abilene, Midland, Odessa, San Angelo.
- South Texas and the Valley — Corpus Christi, Brownsville, McAllen, Laredo, Victoria.
Rural rentals work the same way — we drive in. The farther we drive, the more travel and logistics enter the offer math, but the process is identical.
If your situation overlaps with another pillar — the tenant has already left and the unit is vacant, the property was inherited, the landlord exit is happening alongside a divorce — those guides go deeper on the relevant Texas mechanics. See our vacant house Texas guide, the inherited house Texas guide, and the broader situations index. For the general cash-offer process, see sell your house.
Tired landlord FAQ
The questions landlords ask before selling
Do I have to evict the tenant before you will buy?
No. This is the single biggest misconception we see among landlords getting ready to exit. You do not have to evict, you do not have to wait for the lease to end, you do not have to deliver vacant possession. Under Texas law, the lease passes with the deed — when we record the warranty deed at closing, we step into your position as landlord, and the tenant's rights under their existing lease are preserved without modification. If the lease is month-to-month and we want to end the tenancy after closing, that is our decision and our 30-day notice to give (or whatever the lease specifies, longer if applicable). If the lease is fixed-term, it runs out unless the tenant violates terms or both sides agree to terminate. Either way, the tenant relationship is our problem the moment funds wire, not yours.
What happens to the lease when you take ownership?
It transfers intact. Texas treats a residential lease as an interest that runs with the property — the change of ownership does not terminate the lease, does not reset the lease term, does not require the tenant to sign anything new, and does not change the tenant's rent obligation, deposit position, or notice rights. We send the tenant a written notice naming us as the new landlord and providing the new address for rent payments. That is the only formal step required at the unit level. Everything else — annual lease renewals, security deposit handling at move-out, repairs and habitability — is on us starting the day of close.
Do you buy Section 8 / HUD voucher properties?
Yes. Section 8 is a category we already underwrite to. We know the HUD HQS inspection regime (Housing Quality Standards — the annual inspection schedule, the pass/fail items, the re-inspection windows). We know the payment-standard caps vary materially by metro and how to model the rent reality against the standard for whichever public housing authority oversees the unit. We know the recertification cycle and the paperwork that moves with the household each year. After closing, we either continue the Section 8 tenancy under the existing HAP contract (assuming we and the PHA both consent to assignment) or we transition the unit out per the lease and the HAP contract terms. We do not require you to terminate the Section 8 relationship before selling — that is one of the most common reasons landlords specifically want to talk to us instead of a retail buyer.
Can I sell mid-eviction?
Yes. We buy properties with eviction-in-progress more often than the open market does, because most retail buyers want vacant possession and most agents will not list a unit with active litigation. The eviction itself is a landlord-tenant action — JP court forcible detainer in Texas is the typical path — and once we take ownership, we can either continue the action in our name (after substituting parties through your eviction attorney) or pause and try to negotiate cash-for-keys. Both options have tradeoffs and we walk through them with you at the offer stage. The key point: the existence of an eviction does not prevent the sale, it just shapes the offer math and the post-close handoff.
Do you buy small multifamily (duplex, fourplex)?
Yes. Duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes fit under residential financing rules (1-4 units) and behave operationally similar to single-family rentals from an acquisition standpoint — we underwrite the rent roll, the condition, the comps, and the lease terms in place, then present a written offer. Five-plus unit buildings are commercial multifamily and the deal structure is different (different financing, different valuation method centered on cap rate and NOI, different due diligence), but we buy those too on a case-by-case basis. Tell us what you have. Bundled portfolios — three to ten SFR rentals you want to sell together as one transaction — are also welcome and often produce a cleaner deal than selling each unit individually.
Can you accommodate a 1031 exchange timeline?
Yes, and we coordinate with your Qualified Intermediary directly. The federal 1031 exchange rules give you 45 days from the close of your relinquished property to identify replacement property and 180 days total to close on it. If you are selling your rental as the relinquished property in a forward exchange, we can close on a tight timeline to fit the calendar of whatever replacement property you have identified — we have closed rental sales in under 14 days when the exchange clock required it. If your QI needs specific contract language, deed language, or settlement-statement structure to keep the exchange compliant, we accommodate. We are not your tax advisor, and your CPA and QI should confirm the structure works for your specific facts, but the mechanics of selling to us inside a 1031 are routine on our end.
What if there is a security deposit dispute or unclear deposit accounting?
Common. Long-time landlords often have deposits collected across years of tenancies with imperfect records — interest accruals nobody calculated, partial returns from prior tenants, deposits collected in cash, deposits held in commingled accounts. We work with whatever the records show. At closing, the security deposit for the current tenant transfers to us as a credit on the settlement statement (you do not write a separate check — title handles it in the closing math). After closing, the deposit is our obligation under Texas Property Code section 92.105, which makes the new owner liable for the existing deposit upon transfer. If there are prior-tenant deposit disputes still outstanding, those generally remain your liability, not ours, but we will walk through the specifics during the offer conversation.
Do you buy in small Texas cities and rural areas?
Yes. Statewide. The DFW suburbs are our densest SFR rental footprint — Garland, Mesquite, Arlington, Irving, parts of Dallas proper — and we buy small multifamily across the state in every market with a functional rent roll. We have dedicated city pages for Bonham, Whitesboro, Glen Rose, Mineral Wells, Gainesville, Paris, Denison, Canton, Athens, Lindale, Hillsboro, Corsicana, Sherman, Tyler, Waco, Wichita Falls, and Granbury, and we drive into the surrounding rural counties for the right deal. Out-of-state owners with one or two Texas rentals in a market most cash buyers will not visit are exactly the calls we are built to handle.
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