Selling Vacant House

It is common knowledge in real estate that vacant houses take longer to sell and fetch less money for the sellers. We will examine the reasons while at the same time offering some relevant tips.

Problem: Absentee owners sometimes let their house’s curb appeal slip. This is understandable as they’re not there day-to-day to take care of it.

Suggestion: Hire someone in the neighborhood to help out. A responsible teenager will do fine. The job includes:

• Mow the lawn and water the garden during the warmer months.
• Rake leaves and pick up debris from the front and back yards, and shovel the walkways and driveway in the winter months.
• Remove junk mail from the mailbox.

Problem: Absentee owners lower the heat and turn off all lights to save on utilities. They also close all windows and window treatments for security reason. The end result is that their houses feel dark, cold and smelling musty for lack of air movement.

Suggestion:

• Keep your utilities on. It’s the cost of selling your house. Consider the alternative: a house with no electricity, water, and heat is a dead house and who wants to buy a house that feels this way? In winter, a snap deep-freeze could result in burst water pipes. Yikes!
• Ensure lights are on from morning till late at night. When driving to your house every day to switch on the lights is impractical, consider hiring a neighbor for this task and entrust him or her with your house key. You never know when an agent is dropping by with a prospective buyer. Welcome them with a bright interior.
• Set a pleasant indoor temperature around 21C (70F). Heat all areas in your house to keep moisture from forming on your walls. This will reduce mold growth. You can install a programmable thermostat to lower the temperature at night to save on heating cost.
• Ventilate the air in your house using the bathrooms’ exhaust fan. Turning on the ceiling fans also helps to circulate air.
• Avoid potential break-ins by closing and locking windows.

Problem: With no furniture, the buyers have no sense of size and proportion of your rooms. They rush right through your house since there’s nothing to slow down their pace and no place to sit down. To make matters worse, rooms appear smaller when they’re empty.

Suggestion: If no furniture is the problem then partially furnishing your house is the solution.

• Leave some furniture behind when you move. A table and two chairs in the kitchen, a small sofa and end tables in the family room, and a queen size bed and matching night tables in the master bed room. Window treatments should be left in place. Adding a few artificial plants and trees helps to revitalize bare corners.
• Rent furniture. If they deliver and pick up, it will save you two trips, and you’ll be able to choose nicer furniture than your own.
• Hire a professional stager to help you dress up your house. Fees will vary depending on square footage and the number of rooms staged. Expect to spend $500 to $5000 or more.

Do not leave behind junk and boxes with the assurance that you will pick them up later. Buyers don’t want to get stuck with your belongings.

When you take the necessary steps to address the mentioned problems, selling your vacant house isn’t an issue.