Some don&#x27;t, and it can make sense. If you rent it out, then you have to be a landlord, which puts you on the hook for repairs, finding tenants, and collecting rent or evicting them. There&#x27;s always the possibility of tenants trashing the unit to a large degree. Some of these problems become way worse when left untreated for a week, a month, or longer. I can imagine it making sense for foreign investors to leave units empty in these circumstances.<p>In a similar vein, it&#x27;s not just foreign investors. It might also make sense to leave the grandparent&#x27;s house empty while they are in the nursing home if you live further away. If the grandparents don&#x27;t need to sell the house to pay for retirement, you&#x27;d probably come off cheaply enough to leave it empty, pay the property tax and minimal utilities, rather than risk having tenants.