This post was last updated on July 12th, 2021 at 08:22 pm
If you own a vacant house you probably have dreams of it someday being a picture perfect home. The reality is most vacant houses are a nightmare for their owners. Here are 10 reasons owning a vacant house can literally destroy your life:
1.) Most Vacant Houses Get Worse; Not Better
Taking care of a house is a LOT of work. You have to keep up with the yard. Money has to be spent on repairs and updates. It also takes a dedication of time to keep a house in good condition.
Reality is most vacant houses get worse; not better. If you have owned a vacant house for more than 6 months and have not made significant improvements you likely never will.
As the months turn into years the house will need more and more repairs. People will break in. Copper will be stripped. The lawn will grow and city notices will pile up. What started as a project you never got around to will turn into a full blown nightmare.
2.) You Will Likely End Up In Jail With A Criminal Record
It doesn’t take much for a house to be in violation of City Code. It can be something as simple as the grass being too tall. In Del City a house can be completely condemned if you don’t pay your water bill.
Once a house is in violation of City Code the courts step in. You will be summoned to Court. This is where people end up in serious trouble.
If you don’t show up the Court will likely issue an Arrest Warrant. Even if you do show up they will order you to make repairs before a certain date. If you can’t afford those repairs, or you don’t report back, they may issue an arrest warrant later on.
Once the Arrest Warrant is issued you have a serious problem. A routine traffic stop on the way to work will likely end with you headed to jail, your car impounded, and no way to explain it to your boss! All because the grass was too tall or repairs weren’t made.
3.) Your Vacant House Could Be Demolished
If the City decides the level of disrepair is bad enough the City can Condemn your house. This means no one can live there and the house can’t be rented.
Most of the time this also means the clock is ticking. If the repairs aren’t made by a certain date the City will simply demolish the house.
This would be devastating if you put time and money into the house. Even if you didn’t spend any money on the house it could still cost you your life savings.
Once the City has the house demolished they can send you the bill! We’ve had clients receive bills for $15,000-$50,000! Don’t have that kind of money? The City will attach a lien to your personal home to be sure they get paid.
4.) You May Not Own The House At All
About 45% of the clients I help don’t own the house they think they own!
The most common reason is they listened to someone at the local Court House and tried to fill out their own deed. Sometimes it’s because they didn’t follow the proper legal process. All that time and money you’re putting into that vacant house and you may not even own it!
If you filled out a fill in the blank deed there’s a 99.9% chance you don’t own the house. Didn’t have a Closing at a Title Company? You probably don’t own the house. Didn’t have the property Quiet Titled? You probably don’t own the house.
All that time, money, all those headaches, were for nothing. Because you don’t even own the house.
5.) You’re Not Getting That Loan
When I ask people how they plan to fix a vacant house they usually say “I’m going to borrow the money from the bank!”. What they don’t realize is the bank won’t lend them a single penny.
Banks don’t give mortgages that are less than $50,000. If your vacant house is old, in a low-income area, or in a bad part of town borrowing money isn’t and option.
If the house needs ANY repairs borrowing money is usually off the table. Less than perfect credit? Limited construction experience? Little to no savings? Forget about it.
If your vacant house needs significant repairs you’ll have to fund the entire project with your savings. You may even have to do some of the work yourself. How much do you know about plumbing, foundation repair, electrical, permits, City Code, roofing, interior design? Are you willing to risk your life savings to learn as you go?
Rethinking That Vacant House
We’re only half way through our list of 10 ways owning a vacant house can destroy your life. If anything we’ve said so far reminds you of what you’re dealing with we would like to help!
The 181-Close-Now staff has seen it all. We’ve dealt with it all. If you’re in any of the situations we’ve already named let us know! We buy houses all over the state of Oklahoma. Our staff has the experience to handle any situation.
Simply fill out this form and one of our Closing Options Analysts will get in touch. Your privacy is always protected and there is no obligation.
6) Owning A Vacant House Can Cost You Your Family
Reality TV has made fixing houses seem glamorous. TV is not the same as reality. It may even cost you your family.
I meet people all the time who tell me how much money they will make fixing houses or being landlords. The first thing I ask is what they do for a living. If the answer is anything other than “I fix houses and I’m a landlord” there is a 99.9% chance they just destroyed their life.
I can’t tell you how many teachers, firefighters, police officers, plumbers, electricians or bank tellers I’ve met that thought they were suddenly a Real Estate Expert.
The story always ends the same way: They lose their life savings and the people they care about most. Divorce is common. Other times it’s life long friendships that are destroyed.
The 181-Close-Now team has been in real estate for 4 generations. It’s what we do. If we suddenly decided to be astronauts tomorrow we would fail just as bad.
You’re not just risking money when you own a vacant house. Family, friends, relationships, custody of your children; that’s what you’re risking owning a vacant house.
7.) Owning Vacant Houses Causes Bankruptcy
Just selling a house costs 10-15% of the houses market value (assuming it’s in move-in ready, tip-top condition).
Fixing a house usually cost 3-5x as much as you estimate. People naturally underestimate the cost of repairs and how many repairs are needed. They also OVER estimate how well things will go. Even pro’s have this problem.
This means your savings won’t go as far as you think it will. It will take more time than you thought it would. The costs will be greater than expected. And there will DEFINITLY be surprises.
What do you do when your savings is gone, the house still isn’t fixed, bills pile up and you’re about to get a divorce? After enough sleepless nights you finally call a good bankruptcy attorney.
8.) Owning A Vacant House Can Cost You Your Health
A Vacant House will cost you your health. Maybe you haven’t put a dime into it. Or maybe you put your life savings into repairs. Either way a vacant house will suck the health, life and peace of mind right out of you. Why? Because of the word “Vacant”.
Look at our list so far: do these nightmares apply to houses you live in? NO.
Vacant houses have no built in benefit. You can’t live there. They don’t make you money. And they don’t make your life better. All they do is provide the DREAM of making you money SOMEDAY. That dream is usually a living NIGHTMARE. Repairs, City Code Violations, Bills, Unexpected Headaches and many more issues.
That’s why “someday” never comes for most people who own a vacant house. Almost 65% of our clients experience moderate to severe health issues simply because they own a vacant house. All the stress gets to you. The sleepless nights run your body down.
Before you know it you are getting sick more often. You are more stressed out. Health problems you’ve never had before start to appear. In the worst cases owning a vacant house can literally kill you.
9.) Other People Become A Serious Problem
Vacant houses are broken into on a regular basis. Kids will break in to use the house as a party spot. Something to tear up for fun.
Thieves will break in to steal the copper. In both cases that means more money YOU have to spend just to get the house back to the way it was.
The worst problems come from people who break in because they need shelter. It’s estimated there are 3.5 million homeless in America and 18.9 million vacant homes.
Every year approximately 30,200 vacant houses across the country are burned down. Often because the homeless break in to escape the cold. I have seen people start fires using the hard wood floors as fuel. On other occasions I’ve seen houses burn down because they used a fireplace that wasn’t safe.
If you own a vacant house there’s a 90% chance you don’t have insurance on it. If it burns down you are left with nothing but a pile of ashes. And that is itself a City Code Violation.
If you DO have insurance the insurance company will likely try and deny the claim. Homeowners insurance is for a house you LIVE in. Not that vacant property you have across town.
10.) You May Lose Yourself Because You Own A Vacant House
In one of the worst cases I ever handled I saw the damage owning a vacant house can cause. A long time friend of the family had a good paying job, a loving wife and family. An overall good life.
He inherited a vacant house that needed a lot of repairs. Even though he had no prior experience he thought he could do it. He had dreams of making lot’s of money being a landlord.
About a year later he was broke. Deeply in debt; his wife had left him. He didn’t get to see his kids. The house had burned down. And the City had sent him a bill for the clean up.
He was going through bankruptcy and developed severe insomnia. Eventually he ended up with substance abuse issues too.
The last time I saw him he wasn’t the same person I knew. When we talked about what happened he told me he didn’t even know the man he had become.
Stories Based Off Client Interactions
Writing this post didn’t require a lot of research. These are the situations our clients have faced that we have helped them with. However bad it sounds; the real situation was much worse.
181-Close-Now buys houses in the Oklahoma City Metro Area (Norman to Edmond, Yukon to Del City). Our family has been in the real estate business for 4 generations. It’s what we do.
No matter the situation our staff has the experience to help! We will never ask you to make repairs, we buy as-is and we close FAST.
Sell Your Vacant House Fast With 181-Close-Now
Don’t risk ending up on a list like this just because you own a vacant house you haven’t gotten around to dealing with. Get rid of that nightmare and get CASH fast. As always we NEVER send our clients a bill for helping out.
Simply fill out this form and our staff will make you an all cash offer for your vacant house as-is. Your privacy is always protected and there is no obligation.
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We measure our success by how our client’s feel about their experience. Selling your house should be simple and stress free. Check out our Client Testimonials to see just how easy selling your house to 181-Close-Now really is.
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When you sell your house to 181-Close-Now you are working with the most experienced home buying team in Oklahoma. We’ve been featured on NBC News, Fox, The CW, ABC News and many more! Our team has the experience to make selling your house fast for cash as-is easy and stress free!
Get In Touch With Us
Even if you aren’t ready to sell your house you can still get in touch. Questions or concerns? Our team is here to help! You can use our Contact Us page, call us at 1(812)567-3669 or email Support@181closenow.com Or just send us a quick message: