Whoa!!! I can hear you disagreeing all the way up here in snowy Toronto. I have heard many a real estate sales person and home owner express this sentiment. The problem with leaving a home or a room vacant is that the buyer cannot identify what the purpose of the room might be or whether their furniture will fit in the space. The buyer needs something in the room to make a comparison to.
For instance, when a dining room has a table set in it the buyer will be thinking ..."My table is a little longer than this one so mine will fit here no problem". You get the buyer seeing themselves living in the home.
Advantage Staging will rent a dining room table set to you for a very reasonable fee or you can do as my client did. They had lived in the house for 5 years without ever having purchased a dining room set. I suggested that they borrow one as they had no budget to rent one. Well they did one better than that.
When they bought their new home, they asked the homeowner if they could "borrow" their dining room set to put in their home to get it sold. The person that they bought the home from said of course and actually delivered it to the family. Will wonders never cease.... their house sold in 5 days!
Another home staging success story in Vaughan. If you need help getting your property ready for sale contact Michelle to get your listing "move in ready".
Here are a couple of examples that illustrate why you would want to stage a vacant home.
Which room in the house is this? After staging there is no doubt. It is a bedroom and a very nice one at that.
This bedroom looks too small...... or does it look just right?
Invest minimal.
Impact priceless.
When you want to prepare your property for sale, call Michelle at Advantage Staging to produce that "just move in" look that buyers are looking for.
Two offices to serve you.
Vaughan, Woodbridge, Maple 416.928.2999
Barrie and area 705.720.0113
At least take the ugly remaining fixtures down, but I agree the rooms look so much better.
Good information. Thanks for posting.
Michelle--Their argument might hold more water if they were selling "space" and not a home. A "home" means furniture and a lifestyle--a sense of place that a buyer can envision living in. As far as I know, people don't live in emply rooms. And empty rooms generally look smaller than properly furnished ones. Nice work.
HI Corinne, I know what you mean. Looking at the picture you couldn't tell what room of the house it actually was so why leave the light fixtures there.... to act as a distraction(?)
Hi Cindy, Thanks for stopping in. I think it really illustrates the importance of painting a picture for buyers. Do pictures like the befores really inspire buyers to dream about this as their new home?
Hi Janet, Love your thinking. Selling space is for when you are selling an industrial unit. This is supposed to be home. A place to call your sanctuary from the world. I know which one I would like to come home to.
Great photos, Michelle! I totally agree with Janet's comments. You made both of these bedrooms look inviting and luxurious. I'm glad you removed the hanging lights and the other item (t.v. stand?) from these rooms.
Hi Janet, there are many real estate professionals on active rain that will tell you only three things sell real estate. Price, location and condition.
But you and I know that most buyers will tell you that they knew the house they bought was the right one for them as soon as they saw it. Now what do you think made them feel like that? That's right.... it appealed to them visually. Vacant homes just don't have that ability. Very few people can envision how a home would look furnished.
Would the average buyer have been able to see these bedrooms finished like this looking at the vacant pictures? Not likely. And that is why you will get better results staging a vacant home. Less days on market and the buyer can see that it is move in ready with little or no work to do.
What an awesome transformation!!
Congratulations. Your home staging is being featured in the group Staging Before and After Pictures.
Kathy
Thank you Kathy! I appreciate the feature. When you start with rooms that looks a plain as these two were you can really create a pallette to turn it into a showcase. It was great fun working in this house as it was such a transformation when it was done.
OH those swags are lovely aren't they!! Yikes. Rooms look so much smaller without furniture and you are right on the mark!
Great post michelle. I had someone say the condo will look so much smaller once it is furnished and I wish the house had been staged so they could see for themselves that it actually looks bigger when furnished. (At least if done properly)
Hi Shar, I haven't seen swags like that for awhile! I don't think they could even be sold on ebay as vintage, but you never know. Those are actually queen size beds in a 1960's bedroom. The single was in the smallest bedroom but it still showed large enough to put a school desk in.
Hi Eugene, You are right in saying it's all in how you stage it. Neutral, pale colours with just a hint of colour for interest. In the hundreds of properties that I have staged it has never ceased to amaze me just how much bigger rooms look with furniture in them.
Really GREAT examples of how to update and transform a room! Those lights are "priceless" relics!!
Michelle, you made both rooms more spacious looking once you staged them! ! I love the bedding and accessories - great job. (Were those hanging lamps ever in style?!)
HI Kathy, I don't know about priceless but they were definitely jaw dropping when I saw them the first time.
Hi Kristine, the rooms definitely looked a whole lot more inviting once they were staged. At least people could see that they could put queen sized beds in there. I don't think the lamps were ever in style. I think they were in the movies alot in that era and people thought they would live the life of movie stars if they copied the look at home.
huge improvement, look at those walls...ugh.
HI Tori, that's what I said when I saw them!