Vacant Home For Sale vs. Occupied
Do you have a vacant home for sale? Are vacant homes harder to sell?
If you have the option of selling a home vacant or occupied, it only makes sense to consider which would be more advantageous.
The sales process is always stressful. If you can do something to make it easier, why not?
But suppose you expect selling a vacant home to be easier than selling one occupied.
In that case, you may be surprised to discover that an occupied home is often better for selling – unless the occupant makes it excessively difficult.
Selling a vacant vs. occupied home has pros and cons, which I will discuss.
As a real estate agent selling properties for over thirty-seven years, it doesn’t make a lot of difference either way.
Selling homes come easily to me, whether they are empty or occupied. There can be advantages and disadvantages to both.
What is a Vacant Home?
A vacant home is one in which the owner no longer occupies the premises. The house is empty of any occupants, including tenants.
Sometimes there will be personal property left inside. Other times the property is entirely barren. There are essential considerations when a house is vacant, and you plan to sell.
Reasons For Having a Vacant House For Sale?
Some of the more common reasons a home sale is vacant include the following:
- The home was a rental property and is now going to be sold.
- The owner has been relocated by their company.
- The seller has bought another house, and it was more convenient to move before selling.
- There was a death in the family, and it is now an estate sale.
- The home is new construction.
- The property has been abandoned.
- The city or town has condemned the house.
The Differences of Selling Vacant vs. Occupied
Let’s examine the pros and cons of having a vacant home for sale.
The Pros of Selling a Vacant Home
1. The Home is Easier to Show.
A vacant house for sale makes things easier for both buyers and sellers.
Without occupants, there is no need to schedule a time to show the home. The agent can head over and use the lock box to access the home whenever it needs to be shown.
Real Estate agents love showing vacant properties. As an agent, you can have a full plate of homes you need to show. A vacant home can easily be plugged into the schedule whenever it’s convenient.
You don’t have to worry about showing up late or early. The fact that a home is vacant might even increase the number of showings you get.
Why? Sometimes a real estate agent will suggest a home for a buyer to look at, and they say no for several reasons. A real estate agent has to say the magic words “it’s vacant,” and often, the buyer will change their mind.
2. You Don’t Have to Keep The Home Spotless.
One of the most challenging parts of living in a home you are showing regularly is keeping it clean. You are living your day-to-day life, which, let’s face it, is always messy.
From spilled drinks to tracked-in dirt and dingy bathrooms to sinks full of dishes, there are many cleaning tasks to keep up with when you are showing.
There are quite a few annoying things about selling a home. Many things can be avoided when you are not around to deal with them.
3. You Don’t Get Interrupted to Show A Vacant Home.
No matter how dedicated you are to close a sale, it can still be annoying to interrupt your day to open up your home for buyers to look at.
You don’t have to adjust your schedule constantly when you don’t live there.
4. Some Buyers Have an Easier Time Seeing a Blank Slate.
While not the case for everyone, a percentage of buyers have a much easier time picturing their things in a vacant home.
Cluttered homes tend to turn off these kinds of folks very quickly. They can’t see beyond what’s there. There is always going to be a percentage of buyers that have a lack of vision.
Cons of Vacant Home Home For Sale
1. Vacant Homes Feel Vacant.
Part of the appeal of a home is its warmth and coziness. But homes will look hollow and empty when no one is living there.
You can always hire someone to stage the home using props, but that is an extra cost that you may not want to incur. Surprisingly, vacant homes tend to feel smaller.
While I mentioned that some buyers enjoy seeing a clean slate, some prefer the opposite.
Some buyers want to look at how furniture should be placed in a room. There can be an emotional connection with how a home is presented.
When homes are vacant, buyers also tend to see far more of the blemishes.
It could be simple things such as nicks and dents on floors and walls.
This translates to buyers figuring out more updates, which can translate into lower offers.
2. Vacant Homes Attract Crime.
You will find more mischief and crimes with vacant homes for sale.
Vacant homes appeal to vandals and criminals because no one is watching them.
Your vacant home may be vandalized, broken into, or even become the site of a squatter camp if left alone for too long. You might be thinking, what on earth would someone want to steal if the house is vacant?
One word: Copper! With an unoccupied home, criminals will look to remove all of the plumbing pipes in your home and sell the copper. This should be a concern when selling a vacant house, especially when the property is in a more remote location.
3. Vacant Houses For Sale Can Signal Urgency.
Unfortunately, one of the most significant downsides of selling a vacant house for sale is buyers feel they can make lowball offers.
When a home is vacant, it is often assumed by home buyers that there is a level of urgency on the seller’s part. A fairly significant percentage of the time, the assumption is correct.
On many occasions, the owner may have already purchased another home and is carrying two mortgages. The owner, of course, might be paying taxes, insurance, and maintenance on multiple properties as well.
The need to sell quickly is more apparent when a home is empty.Click To Tweet4. Vacant Homes For Sale Might Require Special Insurance.
Many insurance companies do not treat occupied homes and vacant homes in the same fashion. More often than not, a vacant home will be far more expensive to insure.
Here is an excellent resource that talks about insuring a vacant home. Find out what you need to know.
Pros of Selling an Occupied Home
1. Your Home Won’t be as Attractive to Criminals.
People who want to burglarize or vandalize a home are looking for easy targets. When you are living in the home, it is no longer as desirable to criminals.
It just doesn’t make sense to target your home when they can search for another unoccupied one.
One caveat, however, is holding open houses. Some real estate agents love to push for open houses.
You should understand that open houses are a magnet for crime. Lots of theft around the country take place as a direct result of open houses.
It makes sense that when you let anyone through the door with a pulse, you increase your odds of something going wrong.
You need to know that you don’t need an open house to sell your home! Open houses are great prospecting activities for a real estate agent and nothing more.
It is entirely unnecessary to have an open house in the digital age. Any serious buyer will schedule a showing.
You want vetted buyers going through your home, NOT a bunch of deadbeats.
2. Occupied Homes For Sale Show Better.
A home tends to show better when it is occupied for a variety of reasons. Buyers do not have to imagine what the home will look like with furniture because your furniture is already in the home. Buyers also like the feel of a home that has people in it.
You can bake cookies, light candles, start a fire in the fireplace and make the place homey when you are showing, all of which you couldn’t do as easily with a vacant home.
3. You Get to Meet The Buyers.
If you are interested in meeting the buyer, you will have an easier time doing so if you live in the home. Sometimes sellers want to make sure their beloved home is going to someone they think will get the most out of it, so meeting the buyer allows for such considerations.
Of course, you cannot discriminate between buyers, but you can lean more toward one buyer than the other for your reasons.
Sometimes this is helpful when your home is in a bidding war with multiple offers. You might have met one of the candidates that you happen to like.
4. You Can Handle Emergencies.
One of the problems with leaving your home vacant is that you are unaware of when things go wrong – like when a water pipe bursts. But when you live in the home, you can see issues as they arise and address them quickly.
You don’t have to worry about coming to find your vacant home ruined by something that could have been prevented. Selling a vacant home can be far more challenging in the winter if you live in a cold-weather climate.
For example, if your home is unoccupied, you could have an ice dam and not even know it. Ice dams can turn into much more significant problems if left untouched.
Mold can quickly develop if you don’t act soon. Selling a house with black mold can be expensive to fix.
Nobody wants to come home to discover a major catastrophe has occurred!
5. You Don’t Have to Pay Utilities at Two Separate Homes.
The home you are selling needs to have its utilities on, even if you are not living there. That means you will have to pay utilities at your current residence and home for sale if you are not occupying it. By staying at home, you avoid paying duplicate bills.
Cons of Selling an Occupied Home
1. You Have to Keep The House Clean.
If you are living in the home you sell, you must keep the home clean and tidy. You want to attract buyers when they come to view the home.
Dirt, messy rooms, pungent odors of pets, and other similar issues must be dealt with every time you show, which can be challenging for some owners.
2. Hoarding and Other Issues Cannot be Hidden Effectively.
You may be selling the home of a hoarder or someone with hoarding-like tendencies, such as the home of a family member or friend.
Hoarding on a large scale cannot be hidden from potential buyers and will dive the price of the home considerably.
If hoarding or other cleanliness issues are significant, it may make more sense to move everything out of the home, have it cleaned and sell it while it is vacant.
3. You Will Have to Leave For Showings.
Your real estate agent will ask that you leave for each showing.
The more showings, the more often you will need to interrupt your schedule to accommodate potential buyers. For many buyers, it is worth the trouble to be able to sell the home for the best possible price – which a clean, occupied home can help with – but for others, it is too much to deal with.
Staging Vacant Homes
Do you need to stage a vacant home to sell? No, you do not. Staging a home professionally can be very expensive. You could spend thousands of dollars a month to fill a home with furniture and other accessories.
While preparing a home for sale is essential, professional staging is not. Many vacant homes sell each week without adding furniture.
Vacant staging is a significant added expense unlikely to have a good return on investment. Using this home-selling preparation checklist will be helpful.
Tips For Selling a Vacant Home For Sale
If you decide that selling your home vacant is the way you need to go, take advantage of some of these tips.
- Alert the local police department that your home is vacant. Hopefully, they will keep a closer eye on your home.
- Let your neighbors and friends know you are selling and are no longer there. Just another set of eyes to be on the lookout for trouble.
- Take extra precautions and install good locks, preferably with deadbolts.
- You might also want to consider installing a security system.
- Another option is to install home monitoring equipment that allows you to view the interior and exterior remotely.
- Having some lights on timers is also a good idea to make the home look occupied.
- Keep up the exterior of your home. You want to ensure your home doesn’t look like you don’t care.
- Try to keep the home seasonable cool, or warm if possible.
Vacant Homes For Sale Near Me
If you are interested in finding vacant houses for sale, you can head to Google and search for “vacant home for sale near me.” There may be some that are picked up via online advertising.
Asking a local real estate agent will also help locate vacant properties for sale.
Final Thoughts on Vacant Houses For Sale
As you can see, there are pros and cons to selling vacant and occupied. Now you need to decide which way you need to proceed.
A skilled real estate agent should be able to provide solid guidance on selling your home no matter which route you decide to take.
If you are located in the Metrowest, Massachusetts area and have a vacant home to sell, I would love to help. Reach out for an interview.
Additional Home Selling References
- Tips For Staging a Bathroom – Kevin Vitali provides exceptional advice on making your bathroom look great when your home is for sale.
- Why empty homes can be harder to sell – Xavier De Buck shares why selling a vacant home can be more challenging.
- Ways to make your property more desirable – Anita Clark provides tips on making your home more appealing to potential buyers.
Whether selling your home empty or occupied, use these resources for a successful sale!
About the author: The above Real Estate information on a vacant home for sale vs. selling occupied was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-625-0191. Bill has helped people move in and out of many Metrowest towns for the last 37+ Years.
Are you thinking of selling your home? I am passionate about real estate and love sharing my marketing expertise!
I service Real Estate sales in the following Metrowest MA towns: Ashland, Bellingham, Douglas, Framingham, Franklin, Grafton, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hopedale, Medway, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, Millville, Northborough, Northbridge, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Sutton, Wayland, Westborough, Whitinsville, Worcester, Upton and Uxbridge MA.
