Selling your Home? Don't Leave it Vacant
Whether you advertise and sell your home or ask for help
from a realtor, the last thing you want to do is leave it vacant. If
you've left your home empty while it is on the market waiting to be
sold, this is definitely not a good idea, as you will have a harder time
trying to sell an empty house to a buyer than one with furniture in it.
When potential buyers walk into a property they will be trying to
imagine what the house looks like filled with new furniture and their
belongings, it is harder to do this if it is empty.
The best advice to a home seller is to depersonalize the space, take
away your family photos, kids drawings, ornaments, etc and leave it in a
plain neutral state including only the main items of furniture. Having
these things in the home will give the buyer a better idea of the space
in each room and gets their imagination going as to what the
possibilities are for future arrangements.
In an empty house, people will need to be told which room fits what
purpose, at least when the furniture is there they will know that this
is the living room, and that is the study area. If you've ever seen an
empty house then you'll know that all of the imperfections are clear as
day without the furniture; that badly painted spot on the wall that used
to be hidden behind a wedding photo or the miss matched floorboard
color, where your sofa used to be, all of this will become overly
apparent and devalue the price of your house.
If your goal is to sell your home fast then home staging is a good idea,
you can live elsewhere, but leave a few items such as the odd table,
chair sets, flower pots, simple wall hangings and a few strategically
placed lamps to give out a comfortable homely vibe. If you need all of
these items then you might want to consider hiring a professional
staging agency, they will come in and access your interior then fill it
with the necessary pieces of furniture giving it an appealing edge and
increasing your chances of making a faster sale.
If possible ask a family member to live in the house until it is sold
instead of having to call a realtor to go round and show the place each
time a buyer calls, you can have someone their to keep things looking
good and show people round the house. In some cases and especially in
the current economic climate, many properties are left on the market for
months; in this case another worry might be about squatters taking over
your unused property. This is quite a common problem in certain areas
and may result in damage to your property, which is something that you
don't really want during the viewing stages.
The bottom line is that selling a vacant house is much more difficult
and will take more time to get rid of than a fully furnished one. Apart
from this, an empty home will definitely go for less money than one with
a few basic fittings to give an idea of use of space. When your
potential buyers walk into your house you want them to be awed by
possibilities and be distracted by the detailed features, not to focus
in on the flaws.
Spending a little extra on a home stager who will ensure that all of the
rooms in your home are kept perfect for future viewings is guaranteed to
speed up the selling process. You can also ask them to supply a manager
to take care of your property, keep it clean and show people around.
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