Is it better to sell my house furnished or empty?
I know I’m a little biased when it comes to the question a lot of vendors have about whether or not they really need to furnish their house to sell it, but hey - I believe in what we do and I believe that no-one falls in love with an empty box.
It’s not unusual that many vendors aren’t familiar with the success of property styling because we only sell our houses a few times within our lives and property styling whilst not that new, has only really started gaining traction in Australia within the last 5 years. So, in saying that many vendors believe that it truly makes no difference whether the home has furniture in it or not.
However, this couldn’t be further from the truth because empty houses often sell far slower than the furnished ones and usually for less for a number of reasons:
A property without furniture will always look smaller than one with furniture. A lot of people really are of the perception that if you remove everything from a space it will look much larger, this isn’t the case. A furnished room provides buyers with depth perception and removes the guesswork. I’m sure you’ve walked into a room at an open home at least once and thought to yourself' ‘there’s no way my couch will fit in here’ when in fact it would.
Furnishing and decorating a space appeals to buyers’ emotions and allows for them to view themselves living in the home. It’s selling potential buyers a lifestyle. Empty homes often appear cold, un-welcoming and depressing, all the things you don’t want buyers to feel.
Online listings are almost always the first place buyers will look for a property and with a sea of properties available at the click of a button you need to ensure that your property stands out from its competition. Empty homes don’t stand out, they just look like every other empty home with 4 walls listed for sale. By showcasing your property furnished you’re allowing buyers to visualise themselves living in the home and pencilling the inspection time in their diary to see it in person.
Using furniture and decor in a property often distracts the eye from any imperfections in the home. If there’s nothing in a room, buyers will likely focus on the negatives - so why would they get excited about a home that has imperfections that will cost money to fix? Unless of course they’re looking for a bargain, in which case their offer will be far lower than your asking price.
Empty homes only have one marketing strategy - price. Every property listed for sale usually has the same particular set of marketing factors, price being the most integral, followed by the property’s location and then the presentation. Empty homes offer no clear emotional attraction available to influence buyers’ decisions so therefore the property is likely to remain on the market for much longer with little to no interest, leaving the agent no choice but making a deduction to the only marketing strategy available, the price. The one thing you don’t want to lower when it comes to selling your home.
Empty homes perceive a seller’s desperation. It’s natural for us as human beings to be curious and it’s no surprise that buyers will wonder why a home is empty - are they desperate to sell? Is money tight and they’re willing to take whatever price we offer? This leaves buyers with the impression there’s room to negotiate and offer a little less than your asking price. As a seller you want to avoid these buyers, you’re a genuine seller wanting the best possible price and an empty home doesn’t offer that.
So I guess you’ve probably got the gist by now - empty homes don’t sell as easily or as quickly as occupied homes.
Wherever possible, as a seller you should be putting in that extra effort to help your home stand out from the rest. Hire the professionals and ensure your home doesn’t leave buyers guessing. Like I always say, styling your house will always be far cheaper than your first price reduction.
