CHAPTER 1 Introduction
Vacant homes pose real estate challenges while also offering opportunities. Paradoxically, empty real estate can be easier to sell (e.g., it can be owner-unoccupied and beautifully staged for marketing). At the same time, it is harder to sell (it may be a piece of property left to you in a favorite aunt’s estate that has been neglected for years. That is what we will discuss in this book — the challenges and techniques for successfully selling an empty house. A home can become vacant due to marriage, divorce, job relocation, death, or myriad other life events. The house could be in superb, average, or shabby condition. It may be updated or old-fashioned. It may be starkly empty and beautifully painted in neutral colors throughout, or it may be crammed with old furniture and the previous owner’s (perhaps your own) possessions, with zebra-striped wallpaper in the kitchen and bathrooms. Either way, it needs to be sold. This book considers how. There are two types of vacant home sales. One scenario is where the homeowners/sellers have decided to vacate the home they currently live in and reside elsewhere while the house is sold, such as in an apartment, rental home, or hotel. They do this to make a home appear more appealing to potential buyers. As we will see, this is “staging” a house for the market. The advantages of vacating the house before starting the home marketing and sales process include presenting a better staging opportunity, more frequent showings, easier upkeep to achieve a good curb appeal, a pristine interior, and a less burdensome process for the seller in terms of time and effort. The other situation is where the home is unoccupied. No one lives there, and perhaps no one has lived there for some time. 1
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