Situations
Sell a vacant house.
DL Solutions buys vacant houses nationwide, including properties with utilities off, boarded openings, or long-term vacancy registrations — with especially deep experience across DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia. We can walk the property with you or with a key left with a neighbor; you do not need to travel.
Who this fits
This fits owners carrying an empty property: a former rental between tenants, an inherited house no one moved into, a home emptied for a renovation that never started, or a property held from out of state.
Vacant property costs money every month: taxes, insurance, vacancy fees, and the risk of a break-in or a burst pipe. A direct sale ends that.
How we approach it
Winterized or not, we evaluate the property as it sits. Utilities off, boarded openings, and overgrown yards are expected on vacant houses and do not change whether we can buy.
The walkthrough can happen with you, with a key left with a neighbor, or through access arranged with the title company. Out-of-state owners do not need to travel at any point in the transaction.
What the transaction looks like
Address, property, conversation, options, closing. Vacant houses are often the simplest transactions we do, because no one has to move and nothing has to be coordinated around occupancy.
Closing runs through a licensed title or settlement company, and documents can be signed remotely. We structure the date around the transaction and your needs when possible.
DC, Maryland, and Virginia notes
Vacancy is regulated locally. The District requires owners to register vacant buildings (D.C. Code § 42-3131.06) and taxes vacant property at a sharply higher rate — $5 per $100 of assessed value for vacant property and $10 for blighted property, against a standard residential rate well below that (D.C. Code § 47-813). Prince George's County runs a Vacant Property Registry Program for unmaintained vacant buildings, with designation fees and annual inspections (Prince George's County Code §§ 13-1120.02 et seq.); Montgomery County designates unmaintained vacant dwellings under its own inspection-and-fee regime (Montgomery County Code §§ 26-20 to 26-26; COMCOR 26.00.03). Virginia localities enforce the Virginia Maintenance Code against vacant structures (Va. Code § 36-105(C); 13 VAC 5-63-520) and can order dangerous buildings repaired, secured, or removed (Va. Code § 15.2-906).
Registration status and accrued fees are part of the record we review with the title company before writing an offer. This is general information, not legal advice; the title company confirms what attaches to your property.
How we calculate the offer
1.Value once it is finished
What the house is worth after the work a vacant property typically needs, drawn from recent sales of similar finished homes in the area.
2.What the vacancy left to fix
Boarded openings, weatherization damage, overgrowth, failed systems — whatever sitting empty did to the house, priced from the walkthrough rather than a checkbox list.
3.Carrying and transaction costs
Taxes, insurance, utilities, and any registration fees during the hold, title costs, plus the cost of the money while the work runs.
4.The offer
Finished value minus the work and the costs. We show the math if you ask.
Where this comes up
Related situations
Questions
The utilities are off. Can you still evaluate the property?
Utilities off, boarded openings, and long-term vacancy are expected on the vacant houses we buy — the evaluation happens with the property exactly as it sits, winterized or not. None of it changes whether we can make an offer.
I live out of state. Do I need to travel for any part of this?
Travel is never required. We can walk the property with a key left with a neighbor or through access arranged with the title company, and closing documents can be signed remotely. Many of the vacant houses we buy belong to owners who never make the trip.
The property is on a vacant-property registry. Is that an issue?
Registrations and their fees are common on the properties we evaluate. We review the registration status with the title company before writing an offer, and anything outstanding is resolved through settlement.
Does a vacant house close faster than an occupied one?
Usually, yes, because no one has to move and there is no occupancy to coordinate. The timeline is still set by title work rather than by a promise from us; we structure the date around the transaction and your needs when possible.