Does marketing a vacant home hurt your chances of a sale? We often get asked this question by folks selling a rental home, vacation home, or by those that have an opportunity to relocate before their home sells. They are concerned that a cold, empty home will not show nearly as well as one that brims with warm feelings, staged furnishings, and the artifacts of human occupation.
Much of this fear comes from stories they’ve heard about the benefits of staging. There is a certain segment of the population that has a hard time picturing how furnishings might layout in any given space, and these folks certainly benefit from the well placed furnishings for their comparison. And those that have toured builder model homes cannot deny the inviting feel of a warm and well appointed house. Some of our clients have even suggested placing tenants in their home just as a showing feature. (This is not recommended under most any circumstance.)
It is always our intent to get our clients the highest value for their property in the shortest amount of time with the least number of hassles. We take our responsibility seriously, and we get this question about vacant homes often, so we wanted to find some statistics to put this question to rest once in for all.
The reason the vacant home question has not been easy to answer, is there is a mitigating force that works against the “warm home” amenity of an occupied home. The fact is, vacant homes are VERY easy for buyers’ brokers to show. We can personally attest to the relief a broker feels when going through a list of potential homes for the day and sees the word “vacant” in the showing instructions. “Oh, good…that one’s vacant.” And we would bet that is the same phrase that goes through every other broker’s mind in that same situation. To explain this phenomenon, let’s take a quick look at what goes into the preparation for a day of showing buyers. [Read more…]