Selling an empty home is difficult, but if you can make the perfect first impression, maximize comfort inside the house, and discourage burglars, you will offer yourself the greatest possible opportunity of selling it for the full price and avoiding any potential setbacks.
If you’re seeking to sell your empty home, you’ll need the assistance of a qualified real estate agent who understands how to correctly advertise your property and price it to sell.
Find the best agents if you wish to sell your house for the top price.
1. Building a Good First Impression
The very last thing you want to do when attempting to sell an empty house is to give a prospective buyer the idea that it isn’t maintained. Customers will think the house is abandoned if the outside is unkempt and the interior is absolutely empty.
Make sure that you hire someone to maintain the property if you can’t be there to do it yourself.
Simple actions that you can take will help a lot including:
- To give it a new look, paint the shutters and house number.
- Updating the outside lights to look more modern indicates that the home is newer than it appears.
- Grass should be cut and edged on a regular basis.
2. Maintain All Utilities
You might not have furnished the house, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make visitors as comfortable as possible. Keep the utilities turned on so that the lighting, fans, and power continue to function. Set the thermostat configured to turn on the A/C at 75 degrees and the heat at 65 degrees or higher.
You don’t have much to work with here, so make your home as comfy as possible.
Maintaining the air conditioning and heating on also helps to prevent problems such as frozen pipes and musty odors.
3. Have the House Cleaned at Least Once a Month
So you’ve kept the power on and the thermostat is keeping the temperature consistent in the house, but it’s not enough to keep out the scent that excessive stillness and stuffiness cause.
Just as you have done on the outside, you’ll want to pay someone to visit and clean the interior of your house on a regular basis. It should be quite inexpensive and shouldn’t take them long to complete, but it’s vital, especially since individuals will still be visiting your home and carrying dirt from outside with them.
The objective is to reduce the likelihood of an unpleasant experience. Keep the house spotless.
4. Curb Appeal
The exterior of your property is the first in-person impression that potential buyers will get of it, so it must be friendly, well-maintained, and neat. Here are some ideas to help your home sell quickly by improving its curb appeal. When time is of the essence, think about hiring a professional gardener to complete these chores quickly:
- Hedges, shrubs, and unsightly tree branches should all be trimmed.
- Keep walkways and paths clear.
- Wipe down the windows and doorknobs.
- Clear the front porch of any rubbish and spiderwebs.
- Fix any damaged lights or mailboxes.
- The front door should be painted.
- Plant some flowers.
5. Make Sure Your House is Secure
There is a lot more to securing your home than simply locking all the entrances. Consider obtaining a few phony surveillance system stickers and displaying them on the outside of your home.
You might think it doesn’t matter, but evidence of a security system is among the most powerful deterrents to a would-be home invasion.
- Take photographs for online listings prior to moving the furniture.
Taking images of the house with furniture inside and posting them online serves two purposes: It deters possible burglars who may be utilizing real estate advertising websites to scout potential targets, and it allows purchasers to imagine the house with furniture.
Now, on the surface, a burglar robbing an empty property may appear to be a stupid plan, but the house contains a vast collection of valuable metals, such as copper. Taking images of your home with furniture in it indicates that you’re still residing there.
If a burglar breaks into your home, the damage to your pipes could cost you thousands of dollars and require you to either fix it or sell it at a disadvantage.
- Make a point of forwarding your mail or having a neighbor pick it up.
Maintaining the theme of preventing criminals from choosing your property as a target, be sure to frequently empty your mailbox. A stuffed-to-the-brim mailbox is a sure sign that the home’s owners haven’t been there for a while.
You should try to stay away from any signs that you have been away for a while.
6. Contact your insurance agent
Consult your insurance provider to see whether you will require an empty house policy or whether your current policy will protect your property while it is on the market.
According to Matt Timmons of ValuePenguin.com, most homeowner insurance plans no longer pay claims on residences that have been uninhabited for more than 30 days.
