Most agents treat a tenant as an obstacle to clear before the sign goes up. The right buyer treats a good tenant as the asset — in-place income from day one. This playbook covers both roads, and does the arithmetic on yours.
List it on the Investor Exchange → How listing with a tenant works Get help listing it
Not what it rents for — what it earns against what it is worth. Put your own numbers in. Nothing leaves this page.
Arithmetic on the three figures you entered: a year of rent less a year of costs, over the sale price you typed. Not an appraisal, not an opinion of your home’s value, not a forecast. For many long-held Los Gatos rentals the net figure lands painfully low — the equity has outgrown the rent. That is the moment this playbook exists for.
Which road nets more is arithmetic, not philosophy. Enter what each would realistically look like for your property and watch the columns move.
The buyer wants the tenant. No vacancy, no make-ready costs, no showings circus — the lease and the income transfer with the deed. The Los Gatos index currently counts — Los Gatos properties whose public record suggests the owner does not live there: a real, reachable pool of people who already own rentals here and understand the asset.
When the retail premium justifies it: a lawful, properly-noticed path to possession — California and any local tenant-protection rules followed to the letter, relocation obligations handled openly — then prepare and sell to an owner-occupant at full retail.
Arithmetic on the figures you entered. It is not an opinion of what your home is worth, not a recommendation, and it excludes commission, closing costs and taxes — which differ by path and by deal. Tim runs both columns properly before recommending either.
Occupied price versus retail price minus vacancy cost, make-ready, time, and any relocation obligation. We run both columns before recommending either.
The Los Gatos index maps every property in 95030/95032/95033 whose public record suggests the owner does not live there — the people who already own here and add when the numbers work. A tenant-occupied sale can move quietly, owner to owner, without a public listing ever existing.
Counted live from the Los Gatos public record. It is an inference, not a census of investors — it also catches second homes, trusts holding a primary residence, and estates in probate. Owner names are never shown.
Put your rental on the Los Gatos Investor Exchange. It is private and investor-only: no MLS, no public portal, no sign in the yard and no notice to your tenant. Nothing goes out until you publish it, and you can withdraw it whenever you like.
Your price, the rent and when the lease ends. Photographs can come later.
Signed under a California licence, so investors see a number with a name behind it.
Shown to investors with an Exchange account, and included in the investor letters and emails sent across Los Gatos.
Create my listing → Book a walkthrough first
Would rather have a hand with it? Book thirty minutes with Tim: how the Exchange works, what investors see, and how your listing gets pushed to the other investors in Los Gatos. You can set it up together on the call.
Pick a time (Pacific). Tim will call you, show you how the Exchange works and help you get your listing in front of the other investors in Los Gatos.
Selling a long-held rental can trigger a six-figure capital-gains bill — unless the proceeds roll forward through a 1031 exchange into new investment property, tax deferred. If exiting landlording is the real goal, read the companion guide: the 1031 exchange path →
See the full picture on any Los Gatos property — value it, and model exactly what you’d net.
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This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Tenancy terminations are governed by California law and any applicable local ordinances; consult a landlord-tenant attorney before acting, and a CPA or qualified intermediary on any tax matter.
The Los Gatos Market is run by one licensed agent, not a portal. Tim publishes the record, answers the questions and takes the calls.