Selling to a long time tenant

I believe South Carolina is an attorney closing state. These guys will conduct the real estate closing, prepare the deed, examine title, and handle the disbursement of funds. Etc etc..

Where you / your lawyers might be confused is that the buyer usually chooses the closing attorney, especially when there’s a lender involved..

If you’re selling to the tenant the process is basically a normal sale …focus on pricing, paperwork, etc.

I’d get a professional appraisal done (can have your tenant pay for this) … so you’re pricing correctly and not blowing up the financing last min or underselling.

I would confirm the buyer’s financing early (pre-approval, down payment, etc etc ) because the failure in these deals is a friendly handshake that dies when it comes to financing.

Treat it like a clean transaction.. written offer, purchase agreement, earnest money, clear closing date, and a contingency structure that doesn’t let the deal drag on

Key practical stuff .. get a mortgage payoff statement if you have a loan and confirm there’s no weird lien/HOA/judgment cloud on title (better for you to know this even if the buyer’s closing attorney will go over this)… decide what happens to your current lease at closing (usually it terminates because they become the owner … but put it in writing)…

handle prorations cleanly (rent, security deposit credits, taxes/HOA, utilities)… don’t skip disclosures just because they’ve lived there… disputes still happen.

Also decide up front whether you’re offering any seller credits (toward closing costs) or rent credit.. those can be fine too, but they must be papered correctly or the attorney / lender may ask you to redo / restructure them.

Both you and the buyer can use one SC closing attorney for a simple, agreed-upon deal .. that’s normal and efficient imo as long as the terms are already locked and everyone understands the attorney is acting as a neutral closer, not an advocate.

If anything turns adversarial or strategic (price, credits, taxes, seller financing) .. then reassess.

Also.. the buyer almost always pays the closing attorney fee (because it’s tied to the lender/title work), though it’s negotiable. In these tenant purchases, sellers might agree to split or credit it .. but default assumption is buyer pays unless the contract says otherwise imo.