Touring an Occupied Home vs. a Vacant One: What Actually Changes for the Buyer

The difference is not the decor. It is what you are allowed to test, how much notice stands between you and the front door, and whose lease follows the house to closing.

Start with what "vacant" actually measures

The federal number buyers hear quoted comes from the Census Bureau's Housing Vacancies and Homeownership release for the second quarter of 2026, published July 28. The homeowner vacancy rate — the vacant-for-sale share of the homeowner inventory — was 1.2 percent, against 1.1 percent a year earlier, 0.9 percent in 2024 and 0.7 percent in 2023. The rental vacancy rate was 7.3 percent versus 7.0 percent, and Census is explicit that the year-over-year move is not statistically significant. Of the total housing stock, 89.5 percent was occupied and 10.5 percent vacant; 58.2 percent owner-occupied, 31.3 percent renter-occupied, and 0.7 percent, or 1,019,000 units, classified "vacant, for sale only."

One caution worth more than the statistics themselves: the HVS counts the housing stock, not the listings you scroll. That 1,019,000 is not a slice you can lay against the 1.62 million homes NAR counted in inventory in August 2026 — different universes, different definitions, different collection. There is no dependable public figure for the share of active listings that are empty. Treat the mix you encounter as a local question rather than a national one. What you can say is that the market has loosened around them: that 1.62 million is the first reading above 1.6 million since November 2019, and at 4.9 months' supply it is the highest in over ten years. Median days on market ran 31 in August 2026, 29 in July, and 31 in August 2025.

What you can actually test depends on whether the power is on

This is the part buyers get backwards. An empty house feels like total access — bare walls, open closets, nothing staged over the floor — and visually it is. But a tour and an inspection are both about whether things run, and the InterNACHI Standards of Practice (revised October 2022) draw that line precisely. An inspector is not required to operate any system that is shut down, nor to activate electrical branch circuits that are not energized. Heating and cooling are to be inspected "using normal operating controls," and any system that did not operate shall be reported as needing correction. Plumbing is inspected by running the water and flushing all the toilets.

Read those together and the failure mode is obvious. A vacant home with the gas shut off and the main breaker down can generate a report whose furnace line says "did not operate." That is a correct finding and a useful one, but it is an open question, not a verdict — and it lands on you to resolve, usually on a clock, usually at your expense. Worth separating from this: inspectors also are not required to run cooling equipment when the outdoor temperature is below 65 degrees Fahrenheit. That is a seasonal limit that applies to any house in February, occupied or not, and has nothing to do with vacancy.

The occupied home inverts it. You cannot see the wall behind the sectional or the floor under the rug, and you will not get a leisurely hour with the closets. What you do get is a machine in mid-operation: the water runs, the shower pressure is real, the thermostat has a live setpoint, the dishwasher has been used this week, and odors that a week of open windows would have carried off are still there to notice. NAR's 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers found the median search still runs 10 weeks, unchanged year over year, with 56 percent of buyers naming "finding the right property" the hardest step of the process. Ten weeks is long enough to learn to read both kinds of house. Most people only learn to read one.

The notice clock is where occupancy really bites

If the seller still lives there, scheduling is a courtesy problem. If a tenant lives there, it is a statutory one, and the statute is not the same in any two places. California Civil Code section 1954 treats 24 hours as presumptively reasonable notice, requires entry during normal business hours, and requires the agent to leave written evidence of entry inside the unit. Section 1954(d)(2) carves out showings specifically: when the purpose is to show the unit to prospective purchasers, notice may be given orally — but only if the landlord already gave the tenant written notice within the prior 120 days that the property is for sale.

Cross a state line and the number changes shape. Per Nolo's 50-state notice chart: Wisconsin requires 12 hours. Washington requires 2 days generally but 1 day to show the property to prospective buyers or tenants, in writing. Delaware, the District of Columbia and Vermont require 48 hours. Texas and New York have no statute, which hands the question back to the lease. And New Jersey, for buildings under three units, permits entry only with the tenant's permission or a court order — a tenant there can simply decline, and that is the end of it.

The convenience runs backwards from the leverage

Line the two up and something uncomfortable appears. The vacant house is the easiest home in America to get into: no notice, no resident, any hour an agent can meet you. It is also the one that, in Redfin's analysis of homes listed and sold in 2018, sold for $11,306 less and sat 6 days longer than comparable occupied homes. Handle that number carefully: it is eight-year-old data, it is an association rather than a causal test, and Redfin's own stated explanation was seller detachment — an owner who has already moved on, financially and emotionally — not anything about how the house tours.

Now the other end. The tenant-occupied listing is the hardest to get into, on a clock you cannot negotiate around, and in most states that lease keeps running straight through closing. Nolo's guidance on selling with tenants in place is that most states let the tenant remain until the lease expires, and absent a new agreement the notice needed to enter is governed by that lease. So the 24 hours that frustrated you in March is the 24 hours you owe in July.

State that as an argument rather than a proof, since that is all it is: two different sources, one legal and one statistical, that happen to point the same direction. It looks less like a rule about vacancy than a rule about friction — where a home is easy to enter, ask what the ease is telling you about the seller; where it is hard to enter, ask what the difficulty will cost you after you own it. Neither reading is a discount you can count on, and neither is a reason to skip a house. Both are reasons to ask a different question at the door.

How a showing request actually travels

Both vacancy rates sit above their 2022 readings

Census HVS, second quarter of each year. The two series are plotted on separate axes: rental vacancy on the left, homeowner vacancy on the right, since the rental rate runs at roughly six times the scale. Census states that the 2026 versus 2025 change in the rental vacancy rate is not statistically significant. These measure the housing stock, not listings.

The 2018 vacant-home gap varied eightfold by metro

Redfin, published May 2019, analyzing homes listed and sold in 2018. Nationally: -$11,306 and +6 days on market versus comparable occupied homes; vacant homes took longer to go under contract in every metro studied except San Jose, which was 1.5 days faster. This is an association in eight-year-old data, not a proven effect of vacancy — Redfin attributed it to seller detachment — and the gap ranges roughly eightfold, from -7.2 percent in Omaha to -0.9 percent in San Jose.

Frequently asked questions

Can I tour a home that still has tenants living in it?

Yes in most places, but not on your schedule. Tenants hold possession, and state law sets how much notice they get before an agent can bring you in. California treats 24 hours as reasonable notice, and for showings to buyers that notice can be oral if the tenant already received written notice within the past 120 days that the home is for sale. Texas and New York have no statute at all, so the lease governs. New Jersey bars entry into buildings under three units without the tenant's permission or a court order.

How much notice does a tenant get before a showing?

It depends entirely on the state, and the range is wide. Wisconsin sets 12 hours. California presumes 24 hours is reasonable. Washington requires 2 days generally but only 1 day to show the property to prospective buyers or tenants, in writing. Delaware, the District of Columbia and Vermont require 48 hours. Texas and New York have no statute, which means whatever the lease says is what applies.

Do I have to honor the tenant's lease if I buy an occupied home?

Usually yes. Nolo notes that most states let tenants remain after a sale until the lease expires, and absent a new agreement the notice required to enter is whatever the lease sets. So the same notice rule that slowed your showing becomes the rule binding you as the owner. Ask for the lease, the end date, the rent roll and the security deposit ledger before you write the offer rather than after.

Is a home inspection worth less on a vacant house?

It can be, if the utilities are off. The InterNACHI standards say an inspector is not required to operate any system that is shut down or to activate electrical branch circuits that are not energized. Heating and cooling are inspected using normal operating controls, and a system that did not operate is reported as needing correction, which tells you a question is open rather than that the equipment is sound. Ask the listing side to have power, gas and water on.

Do vacant homes sell for less than occupied ones?

In one dataset, yes, and it is older than most buyers assume. Redfin analyzed homes listed and sold in 2018 and found that homes flagged vacant sold for $11,306 less and spent 6 more days on market than comparable occupied homes. That is an association rather than a proven effect of vacancy, and Redfin attributed it to seller detachment, not to the tour experience. The metro spread ran from -7.2 percent in Omaha to -0.9 percent in San Jose.

One practical note to close on. The notice rules above are the seller's and the agent's problem until the day they become yours, and the gap between "I would like to see it Thursday" and actually standing in the room is where most of a 10-week search disappears. Tourzy is building a simpler way to see what is tourable near you and get a time on the calendar. It does not shorten anyone's notice clock, and it should not — a tenant's 24 hours is a tenant's 24 hours, and one day it will be yours to honor.

Sources: Census Bureau, CPS/HVS Q2 2026 (released July 28, 2026); NAR Existing-Home Sales, August 2026 (released September 10, 2026); NAR 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers; Redfin, May 20, 2019 (2018 data); Cal. Civ. Code sec. 1954; Nolo notice-to-enter chart and Nolo on selling with tenants in place; InterNACHI Standards of Practice (rev. October 2022). Statutes change; confirm your state before you rely on a number here, and treat the Redfin figures as 2018 association rather than present-day fact.