Why you need to stage an empty house

Condos or even houses, can become empty for a variety of reasons at the time that it is being put on the market for sale.  So if the condo is empty, why bother go to all the hassle of staging it with furniture?   Why ? You ask?  Can’t people picture what it will look like with their own furniture?  Good question.

5 Reasons why you need to stage your empty house for selling:

1. An empty space feels cold and barren

2. Empty spaces actually appear smaller than they are without furniture.

3. An empty house echos making the place feel uninviting.

4. People focus on the imperfections of the space and not what it can look like with furniture

5. It’s easier for the majority of home buyers to visualize how each room is to function when each room is set up with the intended purpose of the room.

 

So where do you start?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s actually easier to stage an empty space because you’re starting fresh.  This condo was vacant so we had a clean slate to start with.

The first step was to give the condo and new fresh coat of paint to hide chips and scrapes that occur over the years and to tone down the yellow color. While cheerful, yellow is not a great staging color.  A neutral beige was selected.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The dated rug was ripped up and exposed parquet floors.  Even though the parquet floors were in good shape, the condo was in a trendy sought after neighborhood within walking distance of the water.   A new updated floor would definitely add value and the seller would be able to ask for more money than if the original floor had been kept.  So the parquet floors were ripped up and were replaced with trendy espresso laminate wide panel flooring commanded a higher asking price.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The trendy espresso wide plank laminate flooring allowed the seller to ask for more money in this trendy neighborhood that was within walking distance to a popular harbor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This house (below) was vacant.  It was located in a great neighborhood but a few blocks away, older homes like this one were starting to be torn down and new ones were being built.  The home was a large solid family home situated on a beautiful 1/2 acre lot.  Because of a number of factors, it was difficult to speculate if a buyer would add-on and renovate to the existing house or tear it down and rebuild.

Since the fate of the house was unclear, doing some improvements without spending a lot of money would make faster to sell this house and for money money than if it had been left in its current state.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the dated carpeting ripped up to show hardwood floors, a trendier paint color and a room full of trendy furniture, this living room now looks warm and inviting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Empty houses look cold and uninviting.  They also echo which leaves an empty feeling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Houses with furniture helps potential home owners visualize the potential of what a home could look like.  Most people need help visualizing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Houses and condos sell faster and for more money than homes that are not staged.  So are you SOLD now on the importance of staging?

 

I’m Debi Collinson. Designer. Stager. Real Estate Investor. In 2006, at the request of a realtor, I staged my very first home. Staging houses was just starting to become popular. I was very nervous staging my first house, but the sellers liked their newly redesigned home so much that they turned down an offer for full asking price. I went back to design school and have never looked back. Since 2006, I have been staging & styling spaces to make them look like they belong in a magazine page, and buying “fixer uppers” to fix up & either sell for a healthy profit or to rent them out. I’m currently living in my 8th “fixer upper.” Sign up to receive my e-mails of how to make your home stunning, how to sell your house for top dollar AND how to become financially independent one fixer upper at a time!