Empty Home Equals Empty Bank Balance
Posted on August 21, 2008
Filed Under Advice
In these days of the buyer’s market, every little bit counts, and if you are selling in a hurry, you need all the help that you can get. Often, selling in a hurry can mean that a move must be made even before the home is sold. Then comes the dilemma: to leave or to take the furniture?
Your real estate agent (and any other realtor for that matter) will tell you that without doubt it is better to be able to show a home that is furnished and still looks lived in.
This fact can be confirmed by the fact that ’show homes’ on new housing complexes are never available for viewing when they are totally empty. Developers spend large chunks of money furnishing the show home with appliances, drapes, carpets and furniture in order to make it look more inviting.
If a brand new flawless home with clean walls and spotless floors needs to be made more inviting, where does that leave your home? Will the carpet have a two-toned area where your sofa has sat in the same spot for years? Is part of the homey ambience of your home gleaned from your furnishings and room arrangements?
The majority of people cannot look at an empty space and visualize a beautifully designed room. The ‘awkward’ area that you made into a feature may look like an usable space without your furnishings.
One of the factors in house sales is that a sale is more likely if the buyer makes an emotional attachment to your home. It is easy for a prospective buyer to sit in your living room and feel comfortable in the home, or to visualize if this could feel like their home. If your prospective buyer cannot even sit down and ‘feel’ comfortable and at ease in your home, the chances of an emotional attachment will lessen.
Of course, one of the rules of house selling is that all your clutter must be out of sight - or even better yet - out of the house. So therefore a compromise could be reached; you will need all your personal effects in your new home, but maybe you can do without some major items for a few months.
The items that will make the most difference may be the living room furnishings. Many people can visualize a bed in a room, and even a dining table in the formal dining room, but somehow a living room looks very unwelcoming when it is just an expanse of carpet. It is usually the first room that prospective buyers go into as well, so it will set the tone.
If you have rec room furniture, perhaps these can ‘double up’ for your own living room in the new location, until such time as your home is sold.
Keep a welcoming atmosphere in your home by use of plug-in air fresheners, a hall light and living room lamps and also warmth from the heating in the house. Nothing turns off like coldness!
Ensure the blinds are kept open and the mail is picked up. This is mostly for your benefit as often prospective buyers will come in with a low offer if they think that you are ‘desperate’ because you have moved already.
Learn more about homes in the For Sale By Owner New Castle County DE category, at HomesByLender.com. This site has regularly updated For Sale By Owner listings in every state in the nation - buyers and sellers interested in FSBO can use this site as their primary resource.
