Answers by Zac Albers

Typically, you have to give a 30-day notice to vacate, even if your lease expires. It also takes 30-45 days from contract to close when purchasing a new house. I would recommend starting the pre-approval process 90 days in advance, then start looking for homes. You can often put a contract on a house with a 60-day closing window, so that gives you time to select a lender, get pre-approved, find a good Realtor, then have some time to shop around and find the right house before making an offer.

Selling a property is all about casting the widest net for potential buyers. The amount of investors that will purchase a property with existing tenants is smaller than the amount of investors that will buy a vacant house. And that is smaller than the amount of buyers that are looking to buy a house to owner occupy. If you wait until the property is vacant and make necessary repairs/updates, you'll get the maximum value for your property. If you sell it now, you'll likely get quite a bit less because there is a smaller pool of potential buyers.