The family home you are selling is now empty. Selling a vacant home, by the way, is a bit different than selling one that is lived in especially if it is your parents’ home. You may be responsible for the property as the Executor/Trustee or because they have moved to a Senior community.
Sure, there are benefits to it being vacant (you don’t have to keep the home clean all the time, no strangers traipsing through at inconvenient times) outweigh the other considerations. The latter is what we’ll concentrate on today, with six quick tips to protect yourself, the home and potential buyers who tour it.
1. Consider soft-staging the home
If you recently house hunted, you know how challenging it is to look beyond a homeowners’ taste in décor and furnishings to imagine your own stuff in the home.
It can also be challenging in a vacant home because Buyers have to imagine their furnishings. And homebuyers buy homes they are emotionally attracted to. The bottom line for the home seller is that often vacant homes take longer to sell than professionally staged homes.
If you need to sell quickly, consider ‘soft-staging’ (partially staging) the home.
2. Leave the utilities on
When moving out of a home, the instinct is to cancel or transfer the utility services. Don’t give in to the urge. Water, power and gas services are needed not only during the home’s showings, but during the escrow period as well. The home inspector, for instance, will need the utilities on to do his or her job.
You may want to consider shutting the water to the interior of the house but leaving the water to the landscaping on. If there is an icemaker in the refrigerator remember to turn that off.
Cancel the utility services once the home closes escrow. I generally coordinate the timing with the Buyers’ agent as we approach closing.
3. Call your insurance agent
Contact your insurance agent to find out if you will need a vacant home policy or if your current policy will cover your home while it’s on the market.
Matt Timmons at ValuePenguin.com claims that most homeowner insurance policies stop covering claims on homes that have been vacant for more than 30 days.
4. Keep up the curb appeal
If you’re selling during summer or spring, and you don’t want to care for the yard yourself, you should consider hiring a landscaper. If there is some deferred landscaping have them do the cleanup first and then the ongoing service which be much easier and keep the house show ready. In our area if all you’ll need is a weekly lawn mowing, plan on paying $150-$200 per month.
Those on tight budgets should focus on the front yard (curb appeal!).
5. Keep it clean
Start with a deep clean including windows, weather permitting. After that with nobody living in the home, the dust will gather. Folks touring the home will drag in leaves and dirt from the outdoors and, quite possibly, forget to flush the toilet.
Hire a cleaning crew to pop in once every couple of weeks to dust, sweep and, yes, flush the toilets. Our crews also recommend running water at all sinks to keep the traps full of water. If they run dry, your potential buyers might be subjected to a pretty smelly situation.
6. Keep it secure
Most of us have heard the stories about squatters taking over vacant properties. Believe it or not, squatters have rights in California and these rights could allow them to remain in the home during a lengthy and expensive (for the homeowner) eviction process. If the house is a Probate or Trust sale it is also important to consider who may already have a key to determine if you should change the locks.
It’s important to keep your vacant home as secure as possible. Post No Trespassing signs in the windows near entrances. I am happy to help with that. Consider waiting to place the For Sale sign until you are officially on the market as it advertises that someone may not live in the home.
Security specialists offer several tips:
- Let the neighbors know when you move out and ask if they would mind keeping an eye on the home.
- Invest in security features, such as an outdoor camera that allows you to be alerted by text. Consider installing a smart lock on the front and back doors and motion-activated flood lights in the front and backyards.
- If you expect to have the property for a longer period and you have the budget, an alarm system for the windows will go a long way in keeping the home secure and is a good selling point for potential buyers.
For a free consultation about selling your family home in Woodland Hills, Calabasas, West Hills or the San Fernando Valley Call Janey Bishop (818)570-1144 email [email protected] or watch my videos on https://janeybishop.video/Empty-Nest-Downsizing-Playlist
Senior Real Estate Specialist Probate Certified Divorce Certified
SRES, CPE, RCSD, CDRE
