Depending on your situation you may need to move before your home sells or is even officially placed on the market. It has been said that a vacant house is a sign of desperation. Often people wonder if it is actually possible to buy a home that has been left vacant. If you ask real estate professionals, they will all have their own spin on whether or not it is really possible.

Despite what other real estate agents will tell you I am certain that you can sell your home while it is vacant. Whether you choose to go at it alone or with a real estate professional it does not matter as long as you follow a few simple rules. This will ensure that people do not see any signs of desperation in your home; they will only see the beauty that surrounds the home you once lived in.

The first thing that I recommend is make your home look lived in. This will ensure that no one attempts to damage it for any reason. I would suggest you go to your home daily or every couple days to open the blinds and let the sun in, open the windows and let the home fill with fresh air, collect the mail, and just let people see that someone is there. If you are not in the area you could ask a friend or relative to do the same, or just ask someone to park a car their occasionally so people see that it is in the driveway.

You want to make sure your home is well maintained to impress any potential buyers so you will want to continue to have your lawn mowed and you’re landscaping kept up to par. If you live in an area where it snows in the winter months you should have someone come by and shovel your driveway and pathway to your doors. You want to keep your home accessible for showings. Just because you no longer live there does not mean you can let it go. In doing so you make the sale more impossible and show potential buyers that the home is more desperate for an owner than they imagined.

If you have moved out, chances are you took your furniture with you. The benefit to living in your home while trying to sell is that your furniture will cover many imperfections that could be in your home. What you would not have been able to see with a room full of furniture will now be plainly obvious. Once the couch leaves the living room and the paintings leave the walls, the faded paint and spotted carpet would become much more revealing than it ever was before.

You need to make sure that your home is thoroughly cleaned and painted if it needs to be. By having your home cleaned and painted there will be fewer imperfections and people will take notice of the beauty of the clean, spacious areas, and the fresh paint.

If at all possible you should consider leaving a few choice pieces of furniture behind. In most cases a bare room seems to be less spacious than one with a few accent pieces. In most cases an end table with a lamp and a chair will do the trick. Leave the blinds and draperies as well. You don’t want people looking in your home and becoming aware that you are not living in it and you don’t want your home to look overly bare when buyers are looking at it either.

Another wonderful option is a professional house sitter or a home care specialist marketing service. This company will send you a professional house sitter. You pay these companies a certain fee and at no additional cost they decorate your home and have someone live in your home and show it to potential buyers. These people are trained professionals and often time are expected to mow the lawn, shovel the snow, and even have the pool maintained. This service may help you immensely by taking these duties off your hands, removing the worry of vandalism from your mind, and seeing that your home sells at “lived in” prices without people assuming that it is a desperate property.

If you are in the area it is still very possible for you to sell your own home without the help of a real estate agent. If you are relocating you may need a professionals help. If that is the case consider an agent that specializes in relocation because they will be familiar with caring for and checking up on your home in your absence, until it sells.

As long as your home is ready to show and ready to sell then it will sell whether it is full or empty. There may be slight challenges, but it won’t be anything that you cannot handle to get your home sold the way you need to.

If you need any help or have any questions please feel free to let me know and I will be glad to assist you.