This three-minute read looks at the issues around
selling an empty home.

Most
estate agents will tell you that to secure a good property sale, it’s best to
market a home fully furnished. But to quote the Rolling Stones, ‘You can’t
always get what you want’.

Whether
it be due to a death in the family or a sudden change in circumstances, sellers
sometimes find themselves with an empty property to market.

When
this happens, what’s the best strategy?

Let’s
think about visuals

Empty
homes tend to ‘stick’ because we humans are visual creatures. We find it easier
to imagine ourselves living in a property that looks ‘lived in’. Photographs of
empty rooms don’t ‘tell a story’.

Buyers
also struggle to judge the size of a room without everyday items, such as beds
or sofas, to provide visual perspective.

Bearing
this in mind, if you’re selling an empty property, here’s what you should do.

Create
a blank canvas

Invest
time into presenting the property as a blank canvas onto which a buyer can
quickly stamp their own personal touch.

• Remove junk from inside and outside and give
  everything a good clean. (Empty doesn’t have to mean grotty.)
• Patch up the walls and paint them in a neutral
  colour.
• Clean the carpets or, if they’re beyond
  saving, pull them up and tidy up the floorboards.
• Cut back any overgrown bushes in the garden.

To
stage or not to stage

Once
you’ve got the bare bones of your home shipshape, consider whether to ‘stage’
the property.

You
could go big and rent furniture and furnishings from a professional staging
company. While this will require a financial outlay, if your property is in a
high-value area, it’s a move that could make you money in the long run.

If
this isn’t a realistic option, you could still bring in some furniture –
borrowed or nabbed from your own home – to help buyers understand the layout.
Think beds in the bedrooms, a table and chairs in the kitchen, and a sofa in
the living room. It’s a kind of ‘staging lite’ approach that can give a
property an extra push.

A
final word about security

Whatever
you decide to do, prioritise security ­– thieves and squatters target empty
homes. Check the locks and make regular visits to the property to remove any
tell-tale signs that it’s empty. Install lamps that operate on a timer, so that
the lights go on at night.

For more advice on marketing your Kent property,
contact us here at CWB Property.