Should I furnish my empty house for selling is a common dilemma faced by homeowners, landlords, property developers and anybody looking to sell a property.
A quick straw poll of our photographers gives a resounding YES! We all believe that furniture makes a massive difference to how a property feels and subsequently its saleability and the price achieved. Let us explain why you should furnish your empty house before selling.
1. Spatial awareness doesn’t come naturally to most of us
However good we think we are at imaging things in a space, it’s really really difficult to do it accurately by imagination alone. That’s why loads of places suggest making sofas and beds out of cardboard boxes and paper to give you an idea of how they will work in a room before you buy them.
2. It’s not how we live.
Most people don’t live in completely empty houses with nothing in them. So straight away it’s an unnatural environment for anyone viewing the home.
3. It makes it more difficult for us to imagine living there
We all like to imagine ourselves living in a house with all our things before we buy it. But it’s a lot harder for us to imagine our dining table when there’s none there to start with. Or our bed, or sofa, or wardrobe, or coffee table…(you get the idea)
4. It’s harder to tell how a room should (or could) be used
We all know a master bedroom needs a bed, some bedside tables, a couple of lamps and a wardrobe but where do they go and how does the room work with them in? And what about bedroom 3, is it big enough to fit a double bed or is it only really usable as a study? Without the furniture we just don’t really know. Sure we could bring a tape measure and mock up a double bed in the space in two dimensions but even then it’s hard to tell how much space it takes up in three dimensions and how the room feels with it in.
[before-after]
5. It’s nearly impossible to tell how large open plan spaces could be used
By their very nature, open plan spaces tend to be flexible
