Asha Vardan - GUIDE TO SELLING A VACANT HOME

The absence of furniture, artwork, rugs, decorations, and lighting solutions makes it difficult for buyers to establish an emotional bond with the property. Vacant houses (as opposed to unoccupied houses from which the seller has temporarily moved out to list and market) take longer to sell than occupied houses. Buyers need to see the house as a home, and if it is empty, it is a shell of a home. Buyers often do not have a point of reference to visualize the property as their dream home. Aesthetics of homes suggest that vacant rooms look much smaller than they really are. As such, buyers cannot estimate how much furniture they can fit inside a given room. The best tip for home-selling is to create the best possible first impression. A vacant house does not present a subtle suggestion for how to arrange the buyer’s own furniture and other amenities inside the home. Be sure to stage the home, using some good furniture, rugs, lighting decorations, and wall art as accents to enable buyers to imagine living there. When presented with an empty space, buyers are prone to focus on the negative aspects of the property, including wall cracks, missing or chipped paint, small repairs undone, the outline of the couch on the rug, and other distractions. A well-staged home can help cover up the small bothersome issues. The importance of staging as seen by a real estate firm study shows that fewer than 10% of potential buyers can actually visualize the true potential of a home. Nine out of ten people personally visiting your home cannot imagine the possibilities that the property can present them. Show those possibilities to them with strategic staging.

NOT GETTING THE HOUSE APPRAISED

91

Powered by