Selling a home is a fine art. It requires proper pricing that takes into account the location and amenities, and it is also important that the house makes a strong, positive first impression on potential buyers. In order to achieve this, attention needs to be paid to its overall aesthetic appearance. This includes deciding whether you want to leave it furnished/staged or empty.
If you have already moved into your new place, it could be that the house you are selling is empty of furniture anyway. While this may seem like a good thing, it has been found that vacant homes sell for less.
But, of course, this doesn’t mean that just piling furniture in the house will make it sell for more. It is important to be intentional in the design and placement of any furniture or décor in order to maximize the beauty of the space and highlight the best features in the home. One way to do this is with staging.
So, what is staging? It’s the process of strategically furnishing your home and adding décor to design it in a way that will give potential buyers an idea of how it could work for them and their lifestyle.
When staging your home, you can choose a professional interior designer, consult your real estate agent for feedback, or just trust your own judgment. If you’re using your existing furniture but it feels cluttered, keep only the pieces that best show off the space. While it may have worked best for you to have two sofas, two chairs, and a large media cabinet, you may benefit from removing one of the sofas, replacing the media cabinet with a more low-profile one, and setting the room as a proper sitting area.
It is also important to bear in mind things you may have noticed in your own house hunts. When seeing an empty house, rooms with no furniture in them can appear smaller than they are. The last thing you want is for a potential buyer to think the spaces are too small for their needs, so decorating a room with the necessities can show its potential. For a bedroom, consider having a full- or queen-sized bed, a nightstand, and a dresser.
Putting in this extra work may not sound appealing, but it will have the biggest payoff. From doing small things like rearranging furniture or decluttering to more time-consuming tasks like painting the walls a neutral color (sorry, but not everyone will love your neon-green walls), it will be worth it when you get the perfect offer.
