Most buyers aren’t visionaries, which makes selling a vacant home harder.
On average, a vacant home will sell less and sit on the market for six more days than the average sale.
Here are the expert tips and advice to make selling your vacant home easier.
1. Give your curb appeal extra love
With an empty or unstaged home, the first impression of curb appeal matters even more than usual. Here’s how to maintain curb appeal:
Here’s how to maintain curb appeal
- Trim back hedges
- Paint the front door
- Lay down mulch
2. Work with a dedicated REALTOR®, like me
A great real estate agent can be a godsend when you’re selling a house from a distance. When interviewing agents, ask about their experience selling vacant homes, or if they offer staging or house cleaning services with their listings.
3. Stage your home, prioritizing keyspaces
That includes the living room, dining room, and kitchen.
4. Pay close attention when staging the bed and couch
Not all buyers have the ability to envision items in a vacant space. Make the bed a focal point and space the couch to make the living room look bigger
5. Remove stray items to avoid the ‘abandoned’ look
Leaving small items behind, like an errant lamp or single frame on the wall, can make the space look haphazard as if the sellers fled in the middle of the night.
6. Schedule for regular cleanings through closing
When selling a vacant home, your biggest enemy will be dust and grime. If the house is dirty, buyers will just get a bad feeling of touring the property.
7. Manage the thermostat remotely
Put buyers at ease with the ideal home temperature.
8. Set up security
The for-sale sign signals an opportunity for burglars. The for-sale sign signals an opportunity for burglars:
- Alert the neighbors
- Invest in smart home tech
- Motion-activated floodlights
9. Use lamps and lighting to warm up stark spaces
Buyers will feel turned off touring a dark, empty property after sunset. Make the space feel warm and welcoming before they even open the door with smart light bulbs and timers.
10. Lighting is everything
Buyers will feel turned off touring a dark, empty property after sunset. Make the space feel warm and welcoming before they even open the door with smart light bulbs and timers.
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