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I say vacant, because furnishings have different scale and can be used to purposefully distort spatial relations in a structure by camouflaging structural flaws.
I think most people also prefer to imagine how THEIR furnishings or possible future furnishings for their anticipated lifestyle will fit into a blank space. It is the clean palette effect i.e. more possibilities versus a staged setting which is one fixed option / idea of another person usually gifted in camouflaging flaws and playing up features like a make up artist.
A human analogy on attraction: staging a home for sale is the equivalent of the woman who gets all gussied up and coiffed for optimal visual appeal but you can not get a good sense of her default personality as it's all a show when she is in her 'set' persona. One gets a better sense and 'feel' of a woman in one of her natural default settings / environments and then find out / examine her spatial comportment / deportment.
I 2nd Lovehound's suggestion for floor plan with accurate measurements as a definite want. A suggestion: depending on the local county, you can often figure it out on many fiscal officer / appraisal / real property sites if they have a schematic. But it is rudimentary with only exterior dimensions. I also recommend Google earth 'satellite view' and using the ruler tool and taking exterior measure on single family homes as long as there are no trees or overhead visual impairments.
The last house we bought we had to sign a waiver before they'd let us in to look at it. They claimed it was a tear down, but they don't know diddly, IMHO. In any case, if you're buying a house what does it matter what someone else's furnishings look like?
I've been helping a friend look at houses and she can't get past the color of the paint or an outdated fixture so she's gonna end up paying a premium for a lack of vision, the way I figure it.
Staged sells a home. Realtors want to come to see what tips they can gain and that brings in more buyers. Our last house was staged and it was worth every penny. Lots more foot traffic and great compliments. Even better the staging company had fortune cookies or some such with their staging name (advertising) and if you bought the house they'd add in the coffee maker they had there on the counter. It was a win-win.
They also highlighted things about the neighborhood, things to do, make a bullet point list and had that sitting out at the entry. The garage was also a high point because men like their tool area . .. And garages are the main entry point of a home. Stuff we as sellers didn't think about the staging company brought up. All in all our house sold 2 months after using their services. .. This after six months with another realtor.
I prefer furnished mostly because I am horrible at figuring out, just by looking, if my furniture will fit in a space or if a room is really big enough to accommodate my needs.
Houses that are furnished minimally are my preference. A simple sofa, dining table, well dressed beds, appropriate art--all provide some grounding to the rooms and floor plan. Whether these are objects belonging to the owner or a staging company makes no difference. On the other hand, I have seen some homes where there is so much furniture and decor that it is difficult to see into or through the room. This is particularly true of homes owned by my age group, seniors, who seem to have inherited furniture from both sets of their parents and added it to their own. It is overwhelming. So, I would say there is a sweet spot. Otherwise it is better to empty the whole place.
Oh, and let me make a comment about distorted (usually wide angle) photography. It can make everything look totally off kilter, with or without furnishings. If one decides to look at the house, the dimensions are nothing like the online photos captured. Very confusing. So, the comments about providing a floor plan are excellent. Put it in the photos! Every potential buyer will appreciate it.
The last house we bought we had to sign a waiver before they'd let us in to look at it. They claimed it was a tear down, but they don't know diddly, IMHO. In any case, if you're buying a house what does it matter what someone else's furnishings look like?
I've been helping a friend look at houses and she can't get past the color of the paint or an outdated fixture so she's gonna end up paying a premium for a lack of vision, the way I figure it.
That is bad, alright. Those things can always be changed. Other things cannot, or are very expensive to change. Location, location, location.
I prefer staged homes if decorated minimally, i.e. no personal stuff. My stuff doesn't have to fit, and often it doesn't if you change geographic locations, but I do like to see how others decorated, placed furniture. Vacant homes, however, do show flaws more easily to the buyer so as a seller I would want to stage it.
Staged, for sure! Every time we house hunt, the nicely staged houses go fastest and for the highest prices. key word: Nicely staged. Ugly furniture and furnishings hurt the overall perception. Fresh/modern furniture helps the overall perception and cover a multitude of sins. Like who notices the slightly scratched hardwoods when the furniture is amazing? No one.
When I sold my last house, the realtor wanted me to empty the house. I refused. We went round and round on it, but some of the spaces were odd and I think a lot of people would feel the rooms were small if they couldn't see how furniture worked in the room. It sold in one week, multiple offers, for over asking.
I believe it. For several years now there has been a column in our Sunday paper's real estate section about home buying and selling. The writer, who is a local agent, yaps yaps yaps about cleaning, decluttering, and staging. It's an obsession with her. (For example, one entire column detailed how to give throw pillows a "karate chop" so potential buyers will get that warm fuzzy feeling.) I get a kick out of turning to that page every week and reading the column just to say, Yep, she's going on about decluttering and staging, again!
But in our area, any home at a reasonable price is snapped up as soon as it hits the market, sometimes before. I see this in my neighborhood over and over again. Staging doesn't seem to have anything to do with it. The only reason I can see for this agent to make such a fuss about it is that she's getting extra money for her staging services and needs to convince everyone that it's necessary.
What a weirdo article. What do pillows have to do with Mission Viejo? I lived there for 10 years and even back in the 80's, our starter home sold in one week to the first person who looked at it. Our furniture was in it.
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