Poll: Do you prefer furnished and staged homes? (investment, properties, Realtor)

[clearlevel]

I prefer vacant homes. Having stuff there, just makes it seem like some of their stuff might be dirty behind the furnishing or something.

[goldenlove]

Not furnished, but staged (or empty). My problem is, too many people over stuff a home with furniture and decorations and it detracts from the floorplan. So staged sparsely or empty is my choice. We put our house on the market with the house very sparsely staged, our two spare bedrooms only had a floor lamp and the rest of the house was pretty sparsely decorated, too (no pics on the walls, only a china cabinet in the dining area and a bed, two nightstands and a dresser in our 26x12 bedroom). It went under contract the first full day on the market with multiple offers. The floorplan was great and I wish I could have taken my home with me when I moved (and added a basement and a garage).

[SWFL_Native]

I prefer the master bedroom and dining area to be furnished but the rest can be empty. Essentially I have a hard time judging scale in these areas. Having a relative comparison of room to furnishings helps give perspective.

[HomeIsWhere...]

If it's various model homes I much prefer furnished and staged otherwise I prefer the home to be vacant.

[Harpaint]

Vacant so I can see the real condition of the house and that nothing is being covered up.

[simplepeace]

For the poll I chose vacant, but I Also don't mind furnished - just not staged.

Furnished, but not junky, orbtoo personalized. In fact, I am in the process of selling mine, so I put away personal things like magnets on my fridge, photos, cleared off counters, clean windows and sliding door tracks, light switch covers, and door knobs.

Those are also things I look at first in a house - perimeter sweep all windows and doors.
Is common decluttering considered staging?

I have been seeing far too many filthy front doors, and lightswitch covers, cupboard handles, just simple stuff. Shocking really.
But it tells me they have not noticed important things, so I leave. I also walk away from the ones with the waxy melts stinky stuff.

I know the theory behind staging, and I know a lot of people prefer it. I never even thought of it as a way to imagine your stuff in a house. I didn't realize some can't picture it, learn something new every day.
Mine have all sold in different ways. Honestly, like someone here said the right person at the right time. Some I have sold while living there with 4 dogs, or vacant.

Most that I choose to look at are at least 50 years old, so people rarely stage them. Most are either empty, or beautifully decorated in a fitting manner. Funny too I like to be able to smell the old of the house, and not wonder if it is the smell of their furniture, drapes, rugs...

The staged houses I see are like hotel rooms, and so they seem depressing.

Of course like others here, we may not be Joe Q.

[GotHereQuickAsICould]

I warm up to staged and furnished homes before I do vacant ones.

I'm not sure what flaws people are so concerned that furniture might be hiding. Carpet stains under the sofa? Holes in the wall covered up by mirrors? The flaws I'm concerned about are those in the foundation and roof. How old is the HVAC? What shape is the electrical system in? ...

Though I too am able to imagine what our furniture would look in a room, what I'm really looking for is how a home will function for us. Will the kitchen and dining room work for our family? Can I imagine us gathering for our holidays in the living room? Do the bathrooms have plenty of storage? ...

I find it helpful to sit and ponder some of these things.

Thus it is helpful to have furniture around.

[MikeJaquish]

Originally Posted by GotHereQuickAsICould

I warm up to staged and furnished homes before I do vacant ones.

I'm not sure what flaws people are so concerned that furniture might be hiding. Carpet stains under the sofa? Holes in the wall covered up by mirrors? The flaws I'm concerned about are those in the foundation and roof. How old is the HVAC? What shape is the electrical system in? ...

Though I too am able to imagine what our furniture would look in a room, what I'm really looking for is how a home will function for us. Will the kitchen and dining room work for our family? Can I imagine us gathering for our holidays in the living room? Do the bathrooms have plenty of storage? ...

I find it helpful to sit and ponder some of these things.

Thus it is helpful to have furniture around.

I showed a house several years ago, and my clients were liking it. It was lightly staged.
We went back into the lower level one more time.
Walked over toward the large entertainment center.
Right in front of it, the rug was wet. Soaked.
Moved the cabinet a little and the basement wall was wet.
I have no doubt that the cabinet and the rug were strategically placed to hide the foundation leak. They were out of balance with the room, off center, whatever it was in an otherwise nicely, lightly staged house.

Buyer could easily have been out $500 due diligence fee and another $400--$800 DD costs to have the home inspector find that and possibly blow up the deal.

I prefer vacant, because...What you see? It's what you get.

[hunterseat]

Vacant if I'm serious about the house. I want to see every blemish. I bought a house once that was so full of stuff the inspector missed a TON of problems.

I do love to see nice staging. I don't like seeing other people's clutter (stacks of bills, coffee cup, dishes in the drain board) I don't mind lived in but not cluttered. (I can't stand clutter in my own house now days)

[Indigo Cardinal]

I put 'don't care', but my true answer would probably be 'it depends'--and mainly, for me, it depends on the layout of the house. Some houses I've seen, the layout is clean and simple, so imagining my own stuff in there is easy.

Some houses have had odd layouts, where if they're empty, I might look at a space and think, "Well, that's a waste of space," or "What is anybody supposed to do with that?" In those cases, having it staged might help spark an idea. (Maybe not use it for the same exact thing, but I might be thinking, "Oh, I have such-and-such about the same dimensions as that.....")

The first house I bought was staged, the second one was vacant, FWIW.

I have noticed that I am not a fan of these small 'front rooms' that seem to have become so popular in homes. But I know that's mainly because I'm a fan of sofas big enough you can sleep on them, and these rooms don't tend to be big enough for that.