Vacant Home Sellers: Do You Know How Cold it is? (in Your House that you aren't living in anymore)
It is officially fall in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Corridor, as evidenced by the frost warning last night. I ran around to five houses last night to take in plants, remove hoses that were still attached, and to change the thermostat from cool to heat as temperatures were to be in the 20s last night. And that was just for the vacant houses where the seller is out of state. Other local sellers that vacant homes, I sent an email to the homeowner to remind them to check on their home as well.
No one wants to see their home be damaged because they forgot that they needed to turn on the heat! It doesn't need to be toasty in there, but 62-65 degrees is about right. That is a comfortable temperature for showings to occur and the open house host can always bump it up a little during the open house if needed. It can be a costly mistake to let it slip your mind! And no one wants to put money into a home that they are no longer living in.
Removing the hoses from the outside spigot is very important as well. I had a seller last year that forgot to detach their hose from the outside of the house. They had a burst water pipe and the water came into the basement. Thankfully, it was an unfinished basement, but still, now you have to disclose that it happened and what you did to repair it. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
Ready or not, winter is not too far behind and if your home is vacant or even if you just travel a lot for your work, remember to switch on the heat this weekend and save your empty house!
Keep smiling!
Karen
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