What a vacant house costs each month
Add up the bills for an empty house and the total surprises most owners. A typical monthly list:
| Cost | Why it keeps coming |
|---|---|
| Property taxes | Billed whether anyone lives there or not |
| Insurance | Often more expensive once the house is classed as vacant |
| Gas and electric | Enough heat to keep pipes from freezing, and lights on timers |
| Water and sewer | Minimum charges, even at zero use, unless service is shut off |
| Lawn, leaves and snow | Cities cite owners for tall grass and unshoveled walks |
| Mortgage | If there is one, the full payment |
| Your time | Drive-bys, checking for leaks, dealing with neighbors’ calls |
With made-up but ordinary numbers: $250 a month in taxes, $150 for a vacant-dwelling policy, $180 for gas and electric through the winter, $60 in minimum water charges and $100 for yard and snow care comes to $740 a month before any mortgage. A year of that is close to $9,000 for a house nobody is using.
Multiply that by the months you expect it to sit, and compare it with the price difference between selling now and selling later. Vacant houses are common here: the Census Bureau’s 2020-2024 estimates put about 10% of Akron’s housing units and 13% of Canton’s as vacant, though that count includes units for rent or sale.
The insurance gap on an empty house
The biggest risk with a vacant house is assuming your policy still covers it. Standard homeowners forms commonly remove coverage for vandalism and glass breakage once the dwelling has been vacant more than 60 consecutive days, according to Adjusters International, and some policies go further.
That matters because empty houses are the ones that get broken into, stripped of copper, or used by squatters. Call your agent, tell them the house is empty, and ask what it takes to stay covered. Our guide to vacant house insurance in Ohio lists the questions to ask, and squatters’ rights in Ohio explains what to do if someone moves in.
Winter is the dangerous season
A Northeast Ohio winter is hard on an empty house. A furnace that fails during a cold snap can freeze and split pipes within days, and no one notices until water has run through the ceilings for a week.
If the house will sit through winter, either keep the heat on with someone checking it regularly, or have it professionally winterized: water off at the main, lines drained, antifreeze in the traps. See winterizing a vacant house. If the damage has already happened, our page on a fire or water damaged house covers what comes next, and a break-in is covered on selling a vandalized house.
When an empty house draws the city’s attention
Vacancy alone won’t get a house torn down, but it makes every other problem more serious. Signal Akron’s review of Akron demolition cases lists vacancy alongside ignored orders, tax delinquency, police activity and unregistered rentals as common factors in houses sent to the Housing Appeals Board. See Akron demolition orders.
Akron’s vacant building registration program, by its own description, applies to vacant commercial or industrial buildings, so a vacant house isn’t registered under it. Residential houses are handled through regular housing code enforcement instead.
Back taxes on an empty house carry an extra risk. Ohio lets county Boards of Revision use an expedited foreclosure on unoccupied, tax-delinquent parcels and transfer them to a county land bank, a process the Ohio Supreme Court upheld in 2020. If taxes are behind, read selling a house with back taxes.
Selling an empty house from a distance
Many vacant houses belong to someone who doesn’t live nearby: an heir in another state, a landlord who moved, an owner in assisted living. That’s workable.
- Access. A lockbox, a neighbor with a key, or a local family member can let us in for the walkthrough.
- Utilities. If they’re off, we can still walk the house in daylight. You don’t need to turn them back on to sell to us.
- Belongings. Whatever’s left inside can stay.
- Signing. The agreement is signed electronically, and the title company arranges how the closing documents get signed where you are.
For more on handling a sale remotely, see selling a house from out of state. If the house came to you through an estate, start with selling an inherited house.
If the house is in good condition and you can keep it insured, heated and maintained, listing it may bring a higher price, and an empty house shows well. When the carrying costs and the risks are what you want to end, send us the address.