diff --git a/rewrite-properties/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/properties/CreatePropertiesFile.java b/rewrite-properties/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/properties/CreatePropertiesFile.java
index 0c8f899d1fb..1dbc298b93b 100644
--- a/rewrite-properties/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/properties/CreatePropertiesFile.java
+++ b/rewrite-properties/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/properties/CreatePropertiesFile.java
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ public TreeVisitor<?, ExecutionContext> getScanner(AtomicBoolean shouldCreate) {
     @Override
     public Collection<SourceFile> generate(AtomicBoolean shouldCreate, ExecutionContext ctx) {
         if (shouldCreate.get()) {
-            return PropertiesParser.builder().build().parse(!StringUtils.isBlank(fileContents) ? fileContents : "")
+            return PropertiesParser.builder().build().parse(fileContents == null ? "" : fileContents)
                     .map(brandNewFile -> (SourceFile) brandNewFile.withSourcePath(Paths.get(relativeFileName)))
                     .collect(Collectors.toList());
         }
diff --git a/rewrite-xml/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/xml/CreateXmlFile.java b/rewrite-xml/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/xml/CreateXmlFile.java
index 0870e8f01dc..04a35bfa548 100644
--- a/rewrite-xml/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/xml/CreateXmlFile.java
+++ b/rewrite-xml/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/xml/CreateXmlFile.java
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ public TreeVisitor<?, ExecutionContext> getScanner(AtomicBoolean shouldCreate) {
     @Override
     public Collection<SourceFile> generate(AtomicBoolean shouldCreate, ExecutionContext ctx) {
         if (shouldCreate.get()) {
-            return XmlParser.builder().build().parse("")
+            return XmlParser.builder().build().parse(fileContents == null ? "" : fileContents)
                     .map(brandNewFile -> (SourceFile) brandNewFile.withSourcePath(Paths.get(relativeFileName)))
                     .collect(Collectors.toList());
         }
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ public TreeVisitor<?, ExecutionContext> getVisitor(AtomicBoolean created) {
         return new XmlVisitor<ExecutionContext>() {
             @Override
             public Xml visitDocument(Xml.Document document, ExecutionContext ctx) {
-                if ((created.get() || Boolean.TRUE.equals(overwriteExisting)) && path.equals(document.getSourcePath())) {
+                if (Boolean.TRUE.equals(overwriteExisting) && path.equals(document.getSourcePath())) {
                     if (StringUtils.isBlank(fileContents)) {
                         return document.withProlog(null).withRoot(null);
                     }