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I don't understand the buyers who are completely unable to visualize what an empty space can look like. I guess its more proof that the vast majority of people have virtually no brainpower.
I don't understand the buyers who are completely unable to visualize what an empty space can look like. I guess its more proof that the vast majority of people have virtually no brainpower.
Some houses should be vacated and "freshened up" to move in condition.
However, the majority get a better result with the furnishings left in place or a nice staging job. In this market though, it's all about price.
Some houses should be vacated and "freshened up" to move in condition.
However, the majority get a better result with the furnishings left in place or a nice staging job. In this market though, it's all about price.
No arguments there. I get that the professionals know how to sell a house.
I just am unable to fathom how a person can look at a clean empty space and not be able to visualize living there. But, if they fall in love with someone else's furniture then they are willing to make an offer on a place that might not be as nice. It makes no sense.
I've found that my buyers tend to fall 50/50 into "people who can't visualize their furniture in a house if anyone else's is in it" and "people who can't visualize their furniture in a house if it's empty". One is not better than the other, really, it's just that people's brains are wired a bit differently somehow.
Which isn't very helpful, so I recommend, if my clients are moving out, minimal staging, just enough to give a feel for the dimensions of rooms and to make things feel a bit warm and welcoming.
Inflatable beds are good for that. Craiglist is great for picking up items that you can then, when you don't need them any longer, turn around and sell on craigslist for pretty much what you paid for them. More the "vignette" school of staging than the "make it look like someone who lives in a home decor magazine lives there" school.
I just am unable to fathom how a person can look at a clean empty space and not be able to visualize living there. But, if they fall in love with someone else's furniture then they are willing to make an offer on a place that might not be as nice. It makes no sense.
There are some houses that make it harder than others. I remember going through the totally vacant House With No Right Angles and talking about wishing there was something that had been left in there to show furniture placement because we were both having a hard time visualizing it without- couldn't figure out if some of the space was useful or wasted. (Though we ended up passing on that house more because of the early 80s white with wood trim kitchen cabinets than the lack of staging)
It sounds like most of your furniture is dated and seen better days. I would get all of it tossed or in storage. It's highly important that your house is staged well. I was thinking like you when i was selling my home recently, i just took everything out and left the house bare. It was completely renovated and figured buyers would appreciate all the new work and imagine their own furniture in there. That turned out to be a big mistake. I was pretty surprised how people have no imagination at all, i received many negative feedbacks from buyers complaining the house "looked abandoned" "too bare" and other things to the extent.
To fully stage a house, it's going to cost you a few thousand, but the return is well worth the extra cost. If this is in no way possible to afford then leaving it bare might be the best option. Like mentioned before it's better to have it not staged at all than to be staged poorly.
Vacant homes sit on the market longer than a staged home. Working with a seasoned listing agent OR person who stages homes can assist with minimun cost to you
Our house was vacant when we bought it. Granted, this was back in 2007 - a world ago in home buying - and we were first-time buyers. Some houses still had people living there, some didn't and were empty. I don't think we saw anything that was staged wtih no one living there. But honestly, it never crossed my mind that the empty houses meant people were desperate or in a hurry to get out. But like I said, first-time buyer.
Honestly, I think if our house HAD been staged, we would have thought twice about buying. We didn't realize just how small the living room was until we moved in with our not-particularly large sofa and loveseat. It worked out to the seller's advantage.
We recently (12/10), had to sell my MIL's house in a retirement community in Florida. There were 29 comps in her immediate area, most had been on the market for 6+ months, some for 2+ years, we thought we were in for a long haul.
Our agent suggested the list price, I thought it was too high, but she wanted to try it for 2 weeks. Hey, she's the Pro!
We moved MIL out and spent 4 days packing up her personal stuff, hauling truckloads to GoodWill and tossing mounds of junk.
We left enough furniture in each room to "define" the space, nothing more.
Our agent put the house on the MLS on a Friday, the next Tuesday we had an offer. Before we could respond to that offer we had a full price offer by that Tuesday afternoon.
To put it mildly, we were blown away!
Our agent said that the best features of the house popped out without having all of the personal "stuff" to divert attention.
I give our agent the credit too, she sure knew her market!
I think it's over rated personally to say it needs to be staged or have furniture in. I sold my last home completely empty minus the appliances. Sold in a little over a month and was my first offer. And I had 3 bedrooms with 2 of them measuring 10x10 each. Visualize furniture in that space, eek.
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