The bill nobody adds up
Most families never total what an empty house costs per month. Do it once and the decision usually makes itself. Your list:
- Property taxes — accruing whether or not anyone lives there, at 1½% per month once delinquent.
- Insurance, and here's the trap: most standard homeowner's policies restrict or exclude coverage once a home has been vacant beyond a set period, often around 30 or 60 days. You may need a specific vacant-property policy — which costs more and covers less. Call your agent and ask directly whether your policy still covers this house. Families discover the answer after a fire far too often.
- Utilities you keep on to prevent frozen pipes and to allow showings.
- Mowing and upkeep, which becomes a city matter fast (below).
- Any mortgage still in place.
- Decline — the invisible cost. Empty houses deteriorate faster than lived-in ones. Small leaks become ceilings. Copper and HVAC units disappear. Every month of vacancy tends to lower what the house is worth.
What the City of Tulsa can actually do
Tulsa's Code Enforcement team handles thousands of complaints a year, and vacant properties draw them. Standards that apply:
- Grass over 12 inches is a violation, as are weeds, trash and debris, inoperable vehicles, and dead or hazardous trees.
- Vacant structures must have windows, doors, and other openings boarded, secured, and maintained — and a vacant structure must be boarded after any fire.
- After a violation is found, you generally get written notice and about 10 days to fix it.
- Structures that become a genuine health and safety risk can be considered for demolition.
Out of state and unsure of the current condition? We'll drive by, take honest photos, and send them to you. No charge and no strings, whether you ever sell or not — we do it because we'd want someone to do it for us.
Your options, honestly
Get it insured correctly and hold. If you have a real plan and a timeline, holding can be right — just fix the insurance gap first and keep the lawn mowed so the city stays out of it.
Rent it out. Turns a cost into income, but it takes repairs, a manager or your own time, and tolerance for the landlord role. Be honest about whether you want that.
Fix it up and list it. Best net when the house is fundamentally sound and someone can manage the work. Vacant houses actually show well once they're clean and bright.
List it as-is. Reaches every buyer, including investors, and lets the market set the price. Takes longer.
Sell as-is, fast. Ends the carrying costs immediately. If there are code liens, they get paid at closing out of proceeds.
Keep waiting. Sometimes there's a real reason — a sibling deployed, a probate mid-stream, a decision the family isn't ready for. That's legitimate. Just make it a decision with a date on it instead of a default, because the meter runs either way.
We've done exactly this
The North Tulsa house on our home page sat vacant for fifteen years — stuck between multiple heirs with no probate ever filed, so nobody could sell it. We connected the family with a real estate attorney who completed the probate at no upfront cost, then bought the house and rebuilt it. There's a family living there now. If your empty house is stuck for a reason that feels unfixable, that one probably felt unfixable too.