STAGING A VACANT HOME

If you're selling a vacant home, call me for a consultation and we'll develop a strategy that will make the best use of your resources and budget.

Creating a favorable impression is crucial in preparing any home for sale, and one of the most common problems I encounter is how to do this in a vacant home. A home that's vacant can look neglected and forlorn, and if it does, it won't sell at a good price. But how does a seller who's had to move deal with this challenge, and what are the most crucial things to address?

Cleanliness

If a house is unoccupied, it still must look like a well-loved home and there are several ways to achieve this. By far the most important impression to create is one of cleanliness, just as it is in an occupied home, and in a vacant home it's even more important because the personal element is largely gone. A vacant home must look immaculate. The landscaping must be maintained, there should be welcoming elements at the front door, the windows must be clean inside and out, the exterior paint should be clean and in good condition and the roof and gutters must be kept clean. On the inside the kitchen and bathrooms must be kept scrupulously clean, all nail holes filled and the paint fresh. If the carpet is dirty, clean it. If it needs to be replaced, do it, especially if there are odors. Be sensitive to this issue if the sellers smoked or had pets. Cleanliness will reassure prospective buyers about possible deferred maintenance problems because it will make the implied statement that the sellers think enough of the house to take good care of it, they just don't happen to live there any more. Psychology is important!

Paint and Color

The single most important and cost-effective way to "furnish" and stage a vacant home is with paint, preferably using more than one coordinated color. This investment alone will make a dramatic difference in the selling price. My approach is to choose something as an inspiration piece, perhaps a rug, perhaps a swatch of fabric, and isolate three to four colors. Then I choose lighter and darker versions of these colors for paint, and create a varied palette for the entire house that is perfectly coordinated and interesting, but neutral enough to please a broad range of tastes.

Vignettes

But what about those echoing empty rooms? I don't think it's necessary to furnish an entire vacant home to make it welcoming. Carefully staged vignettes can do the job. The challenge is to choose furniture and accessories of the appropriate scale, in colors that work, and in a style suitable to the house, and place them in crucial areas such as the entryway, main living space, master bedroom, kitchen and bathrooms. Pay particular attention to scale and proportion. In a large room a small piece of furniture looks out of place and creates an unfavorable impression. One of the most common mistakes I see is using outdoor furniture indoors.

Where can you get furniture and accessories? There are several options. Start with the seller. Do they have belongings that work and can be left in the house temporarily? If not, furniture and accessories can be rented at a wide range of prices. Stagedhomes.com has a relationship with Cort Furniture Rental and can make furniture and accessories available at a discount, but since there is no local Cort outlet, it can still be costly. Some stagers like me maintain a small inventory that's available on a first come, first serve basis and is priced much more affordably. Ask me! I may be able to help or I may be able to suggest another way to solve the problem.

Green is Good

In a vacant home it's crucial to have signs of life, and nothing does this better than plants, either real or high quality silk ones. Plants of the right scale will fill vacant spaces and create a very positive impression in every room. Use high quality arrangements with dried materials too. Just be sure to have plenty of green.

Getting Started

If you're selling a vacant home, call me for a consultation and we'll develop a strategy that will make the best use of your resources and budget.