How realistic is it to sell a house furnished? (appraiser, negotiations, mortgage)

[easybay]

I realize that most furnished homes are sold in vacation areas, but what about in a non vacation area?

We live in San Jose, CA, and our market is seeing a lot of investers from China. All our furniture is newer (within 5 years old) contemporary style, and purchased to "fit" our home. My husband and I are planning on moving within the next year, and started kicking around the idea of selling our home furnished. How realistic is this and how often do people actually do it? Do you price the home with the furniture or do you set a separate price if someone wants to buy the home furnished?

[Shooting Stars]

You offer two prices - one furnished and one unfurnished.

I do know a couple who have sold many houses furnished, but she is a designer. I know another couple who recently sold a furnished rustic-style home in a retiree area. They did such a great job furnishing it, that I wasn't surprised the buyers bought it that way.

I think selling a place furnished makes a lot of sense in that you don't have to pack up all that stuff and risk damage. However, you've got to have a good sense of design and the buyer has to like your style obviously.

If the buyer is getting a house full of furniture for less than it would cost to furnish the house, they may feel like they can't pass it up.

Go for it.

[Rakin]

You'll need 2 contracts, 1 for the house and 1 for the furniture. Lenders usually do not like a bunch of personal items included with the purchase of real estate.

If they foreclose, does the furniture stay with the house ? It should be handled as a separate issue when you sell.

[AZJoeD]

It is not uncommon to sell a furnished home. In fact many high end custom homes are sold that way because the furnishings are designed for the home.

As the others have stated you will need to sell the furnishings on a separate contract. Home appraisers will not appraise furniture. Also, you do not want the sale of the furniture to complicate the sale of the home.

Finally, expect a low ball offer on the furnishings and be prepared to negotiate.

[NinaN]

I agree it should be 2 separate negotiations. Most used furniture sells for about 20-30% of what you bought it for. I think many sellers have high expectations on price and most buyers have very low expectations for price when it comes to furniture.

[Captain Bill]

You may want to consider marketing it as vacant and "furniture negotiable". I would suggest paying a professional stager for a few hours to rearrange the furniture if necessary, then having a professional photographer take the photographs to show off how well the furniture looks in the house. The better the furniture looks like it belongs in that house, the better price you may be able to negotiate for it.

Also, determine who is your target market, and be sure that your description of the home is geared to that market.

I have a condo furnished with mostly all new furniture. Everything a snowbird needs to come to in the winter. All they need is their toothbrush. In January I'll be marketing that condo for sale fully furnished. My target market is snowbirds, and particularly those who will pay cash so I don't have to remove the furniture. If someone needs a mortgage on this condo, they probably won't have the cash to pay for the furniture separately. So you definately need to know your target market.

[easybay]

Finally, expect a low ball offer on the furnishings and be prepared to negotiate.

When we moved here we sold a HUGE sectional for $200 - I think we had paid $2500 - so my expectations are pretty low. All of our furniture was offered for sale at that time and the home buyers only purchased the sectional.

So you definately need to know your target market.

Yup - When I think about it, the Chinese investers are probably buying to rent rather than buying to move here.

It's funny to get to a stage in your life (married 23 years and empty nesters), when you look around at the stuff you have accumulated and it's meaningless, and just stuff. I could realistically grab a FEW pictures from our walls, and pack the items in our closets, and walk out the door. It's a nice feeling! Our last move forced me to ditch so much furniture and what I thought were keepsakes. I had a 10 X 12 storage unit that it took me about a year to empty. It was very cathartic and liberating!

[ellemint]

Originally Posted by easybay

When we moved here we sold a HUGE sectional for $200 - I think we had paid $2500 - so my expectations are pretty low. All of our furniture was offered for sale at that time and the home buyers only purchased the sectional.

Nowadays it seems that no one is lacking anything --everyone's homes are stuffed to the brim with furniture and stuff. When I moved, I ended up giving most of my furniture away. No one wanted to pay more than pennies on the dollar for the value of it. I had wall to wall bookcases in my office and the new owners didn't even want them for free so I had to move them out of there at cost to me. I realized later I could have listed the place as "office comes with bookcases".

There's a guy who just bought a condo a floor above me who is renovating, and our property manager discovered that the guy was throwing out a dishwasher that was only a year old (!) and all the other fairly new appliances. It's just unbelievable how wasteful and 'throw away' we have all become.