Selling an empty house

[angwill]

I am not sure why they say that but I too have heard that an empty house takes longer to sell. I bought my house empty and liked it a lot more than the homes that were furnished using someone elses tastes. It was easier to picture my furniture in the empty house IMO.

 

[PrincessDadx2]

Thanks for all the advice. We are definitely just going to let it be empty.

Make sure you call your insurance agent. Many homeowners policies are voided if you house is vacant for a certain period of time. You do not want to have a fire and have zero coverage You may have to pay a small additional premium, but better than the alternative.

 

[cjnix29]

Make sure you call your insurance agent. Many homeowners policies are voided if you house is vacant for a certain period of time. You do not want to have a fire and have zero coverage You may have to pay a small additional premium, but better than the alternative.

I've never heard that before. Thanks for the advice. I will call my insurance agent in the morning.

 

[mommyof2princesses]

DH told me, I watch too much HGTV when I insisted we remove the wallpaper from the kitchen since we are getting ready to put our home on the market in the Spring!

I tell you, wallpaper is a big turnoff for me. It is a lot of work to get it down! We looked at a couple of houses with wallpaper and I just could't do it. Paint can be repainted, but wallpaper can't. I am okay with borders though...thy are much easier!

We just went under contract for a house this past week! It was not empty but very clean and taken care of. The first house we tried to buy was empty and there was a bidding war!

 

[mjejj]

Make sure you call your insurance agent. Many homeowners policies are voided if you house is vacant for a certain period of time. You do not want to have a fire and have zero coverage You may have to pay a small additional premium, but better than the alternative.

This happend to me. We were trying to sell our old house and it had sat empty for about 3 mos. (it took 6 mos. to sell, but that's a long story). We were checking on the house weekly and turning off and on different lights but one day I got a letter from the insurance company saying they had dropped our coverage because the house was empty. It was a shock and the company ( a major insurance company) was no help. I did find coverage but it was about twice the amount of the previous policy. I was able to pay it thru my escrow. It all worked out but for a couple of days, it was a little stressful. Just be prepared for the possiblity. Good Luck with selling your home!!!

 

[hipchickie]

when we bought our current house, we moved out of our old house, but left a few things there that we didn't need immediately or want....a couple old couches, my sons old crib (he was actually 6 when we moved, but I set a room up to look like a nursery ) a table and chairs in the dining room, etc. When it sold, we went and got the few things we wanted, and craigslisted for free the stuff we didn't

I even made a couple "fake" beds I laid plywood over some milk crates, and topped with a comforter... people did not even realize they were not real!

I think keeping it slightly staged vs. completely empty was really key to us selling it

 

[SoonerSarah]

We realize we are in the majority, but we prefer empty houses. We see other peoples stuff in the house, no matter how nicely decorated it is, it's not what we like. We are more simple when to comes to decorations and I see stuff that just turns me off.

Both of the houses that we have purchased were empty. We sold our house empty. It was sold in a bad market. We had it originally with a realtor, once we moved out of town she stopped working and we had to wait to get out of the contract. Once we were, we had much better options that resulted with us making more money (because we didn't have realtor fees).

 

[cjnix29]

Thanks so much for the heads up on the insurance issue. I just got a response from my agent in Ohio about it. Since I remained with the same insurance company (Allstate) on the new house, they allow us to keep the same coverage on our current house until the policy renews. Let's just hope our house sells before March! Of course, I think the renewal date is very close to the buyout date of our company, so there may be as much as a week where we have to figure something out. But I am hoping and praying that our house sells before that! Although nothing we are doing at the moment seems to be getting anyone in the door of our house! But love my DIS people for all the advice!

 

[Mickeyluver37]

We staged ours with the bare minimum, and actually moved bedrooms around from the way we were living in it. We were actually able to make it look pretty good with only spending a couple hundred $$$. In the living room, we took out all the furniture except a neutral colored love seat, and bought 2 $10 floor lamps. We put a twin daybed and small desk in what had actually been our bedroom, but wasn't techincally the Master. We took out our kitchen table and put in a smaller round table with only 4 chairs. It was a small house (1800 sq. feet) and with fresh paint and this type of staging, it really did look like a different house. DH wanted to move back in!

We did have to do without a few of those things in the new house, but we took most of the stuff we actually used, which was all larger, with us to the new house. After we had all the walls professionally painted, we put NOTHING back on the walls. My realtor was awesome though, and brought a few props- fake plants mostly.

 

[cjnix29]

Staging is a good idea, my only problem is that we are moving six hours away. So when it does sell, it will be a pain to get all the stuff out and to our new house.

 

[thebeesknees]

We also bought an empty house. It was one of two we looked at that were empty. I was able to easily visualize OUR family living there without anyone else's stuff in the way. Also, it was nice to be able to clearly see that there weren't anty "hidden" stains on the carpet, what the actual size of the room was, possible wall dings, etc. OP, I hope your home sells quickly!

 

[rbork]

Glad someone brought up the insurance coverage. I suggest having your parents or real estate agent walk through the house on some sort of regular basis. It will be over winter, where leaks or rodents may get in. Maybe even freshen it up each time with a vacuum and duster as well as check the temp on the thermostat. People come in for a showing adjust it up and don't always remember to turn it back.
We bought two of our homes empty. The current one sat on the market almost a year. The A/C was sent so low that the units outside vibrated terribly and would freeze over. A serious buyer will look at a house empty or full. I will admit though we had a bit of bargaining power because we knew they had already moved. You are lucky that the house will be bought in a certain time frame no matter what.
Well wishes for your new location.