Has the New Year Found You Gearing Up to Market a Vacant Home?

Once the Holiday Season has passed, and the beginning of a New Year has begun, home sellers often turn thoughts to preparing their homes for market.

This, more than any other housing cycle I remember as a Realtor these past 30 years, has produced a larger percentage of vacant properties listed FOR SALE.  It's not just REO or bank owned properties causing this situation.  Nor has it been the number of homes marketed as short-sales.  Folks have moved away for employment or other opportunities, while leaving their old home behind on the market.

Real Estate Professionals often say, vacant homes sell slowly, and for less money than like properties, which are well furnished.  It’s because many folks buy on emotion and have a hard time warming up to an empty house.  A lived-in home can be much more appealing.

When you walk through empty houses, there is often an echo.  And odors can accumulate because doors and windows aren’t opened to allow air to circulate. 

So, you are marketing a vacant home, what can you do to create an edge from all other vacant properties listed For Sale?

(1) Leave draperies and window coverings on the windows when you move.  In most cases they will not fit your new home anyway.  And leaving them in place, helps to muffle the echo heard in vacant houses.

(2) Deep clean and paint the house.  When homeowners move, they often take pictures, and move furniture to take with them.  This usually leaves discolorations on the walls, and flaws not previously noticed are now visible.  Paint is inexpensive, and often pays dividends in sales price.  Use neutral colors, which will go with furniture, prospective homebuyers may have.

(3) Light fixtures should be left throughout the house.  Lighting helps the house seem more welcoming.  One of the simpler and most effective things I recommend is exchanging any 60 watt bulbs in light fixtures, and if the lamp or fixture will accommodate it, increasing the watts to 75 or even 100.  Rooms seem larger and warmer with more light. 

(4) Furniture in a home will help a homebuyer put things in perspective.  If you can leave some of your furniture behind, it is worth doing.  Make certain it is of reasonably good quality, and not old furniture you were planning on hauling off to the dumps.  Furniture provides an element of scale to a room. 

(5) Consider a Home Staging service, or furniture rental.  If you don’t have enough furniture for your new home and this existing home you re selling, staging or furniture rental can make a great difference.

(6) Only rent out your vacant home if you have no financial recourse, but to do so.  Generally typical tenants do not keep houses in “show-to-sell” condition.  And sometimes access to show the homes can be difficult!