What Sells Better: Vacant, Seller, or Tenant Occupied Homes? 2018 Update

As an experienced Portland real estate agent I can tell you that vacant properties (staged or not) sell better than any other status of residential homes in the Portland Metro area. This is followed by seller occupied homes, and dead last is tenant occupied homes. I’m going to give you the full Portland real estate market statistics in this article with some explanation. Numbers are from RMLS, Regional Multiple Listing Service, using all detached residential homes listed for sale in the last six month prior to 4-23-2018.

Vacant Portland Homes

In the last six months in the Portland real estate market, 2839 vacant homes were listed for sale. Of those, 2221 sold. This means 78% of these properties sold, and 22% did not (they ended up canceled or expired listings in RMLS).

Seller Occupied Portland Homes

In the last six months in the Portland housing market, 2322 seller occupied homes were listed for sale. Of those, 1653 sold. This means 71% of these properties sold, and 29% did not (turned into canceled or expired listings).

Tenant Occupied Portland Homes

Only 205 tenant occupied Portland homes were listed for sale in the last six month. Of those, 107 sold. This means 52% of these properties sold, and 48% did not.

How does the Portland real estate market compare to last year? (2017)

This Portland real estate market statistic is another helpful way to see the overall Portland housing market cooling. In 2017’s six month report: 83% of vacant homes sold, 75% of seller occupied homes sold, and 63% of tenant occupied homes sold. That’s a 5% drop in success rate for vacant homes, 4% drop in success rate for seller occupied homes, and whopping 11% drop in success rate for the already difficult tenant occupied sale.

What can we learn from this?

I understand that it is not always possible to vacate a home before selling, but if you can – do. Vacant home sell better in Portland for a number of reasons.

1. It is easier for the buyer’s agent to show the home. Buyer’s agents are still very busy in Portland and if they sell the home is vacant, it is more likely to show up on the tour list.
2. It is easier for the buyer to visualize living there, this is true whether or not the home is staged (as good real estate staging will appeal to today’s buyer’s dreams).
3. The buyer will feel more comfortable about the home’s condition. The buyer can never be sure how well the seller will leave the property behind if it is seller occupied.

The seller’s schedule (or buyer’s agent’s laziness) can get in the way of a showing, but at least in the seller occupied scenario – the seller is motivated. In the tenant occupied scenario, they are typically not motivated to respond quickly to showing requests or to pick up well after themselves before a showing. This leads to that massive 48% fail rate. The vast majority of the buyer pool in the Portland real estate market is made up of regular home buyers, not investors looking to pick up another rental. Any current landlord in Portland is well advised to vacate any single detached residential home prior to listing that home for sale.

Need real estate help? Contact our top 1% listing agents or top 1% buyer’s agents in Portland today. We are well researched, experienced, and motivated!