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My husband and I are expecting to move to a neighboring state in the near future. We won't be given a lot of notice when this happens (1-3 weeks). I was curious if, in your experiences, there was any difference in selling a house that had furniture in it, or a house where the owners had already vacated. We have never sold a house before (this is our first home), so I apologize if this seems like a novice question.
I've bought houses both ways, sold them both ways. When we left TX recently I tried to do a bit of reading on the subject and there was not much conclusive saying one way was any better than the other. I think if it's empty it becomes that much more important to make sure that everything is absolutely spotless inside though. Worst case is move everything out and put it on the market, if it doesn't sell relatively quickly then pay someone to stage it for you and see if that makes any difference.
This is an ongoing debate. Myself, I believe an empty house looks larger. My last sale was of an empty house. Just be sure you have somebody come by to keep it clean. You will have to address landscaping issues as you will not be there.
If within 200 miles, I suggest a visit every other week to be sure all is well.
This is an ongoing debate. Myself, I believe an empty house looks larger. My last sale was of an empty house. Just be sure you have somebody come by to keep it clean. You will have to address landscaping issues as you will not be there.
If within 200 miles, I suggest a visit every other week to be sure all is well.
We'll be within 1.5 hrs driving, so we expect to be back on the weekends making sure the house is okay.
We'll be within 1.5 hrs driving, so we expect to be back on the weekends making sure the house is okay.
Thanks for the responses!
Being only that far away you could easily clean/maintain the place yourself on a weekend basis. Have any rel estate agent you hire, agree to visit during the week to check on things.
It depends on the house. If it's a small house you want it furnished but not with oversize furniture. If it's small and unfurnished it will be harder for the prospective buyer to imagine if furniture will fit or not.
It depends on the house. If it's a small house you want it furnished but not with oversize furniture. If it's small and unfurnished it will be harder for the prospective buyer to imagine if furniture will fit or not.
I agree with this.
I sold a house from a different state. I stayed with my parents while my home was on the market, so I left my furniture. Once it went under contract, I went down and moved everything back up. Deal fell through though. It remained empty until I sold it. So, I (sort of) sold the same house both furnished and unfurnished.
Some people say that they prefer unfurnished and that they only buy houses that way. My feeling is that if furnished houses didn't sell better, builders would not have fully furnished and staged model homes. They wouldn't waste that money unless they were doing a better job of selling the houses that way.
Having said that, I think it's extremely important to make sure that a house is not TOO furnished and crowded looking. And closets and cabinets should be at least 1/4, hopefully more, empty, to convey the impression that there is so much storage that you can't use it all.
But it sounds like you are coming from the opposite approach, where you are concerned the house won't sell if it's completely cleared out? I think that it can be hard for people to envision how furniture fits that way, and what I've seen work is when the listing photos are taken with the furniture in place and there is a printed sheet in the house with those photos, even though it's empty for the actual showing. That helps buyers easily imagine how the furniture fits in the room and gives a better sense of scale. Empty houses can sometimes look smaller than they really are.
Two houses ago, I moved out of state and was leaving an almost empty place to sell - but I left an old dining room table and chairs that I didn't want and my real estate agent agreed to dispose of when it sold. I thought that helped give that sense of scale, plus it meant that someone could sit down and do some paperwork to write an offer if they wanted.
Ask your real estate agent after he (she) has looked at your furniture.
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