Accentuate the Positive - Deal with the Negatives Problem 4: You've moved all your furniture out and all you can see are flaws in the floors and walls.
This week in a series of posts, I've been sharing a variety of tips for dealing with the not-so-great aspects of a home, after all every house has them. Monday I touched on a few ideas for dealing with an unsightly view. Tuesday traffic-noise. Wednesday I covered what to do when your neighbor's house is a run-down mess. Today, in the final day of my series, I'll discuss selling a vacant home.
Vacant homes come with lots of challenges. When you take all the furniture out of the house the only thing left to look at are the stains in the carpet or the cracks in the walls (that just about every home that's ever been lived in has). These same flaws are a lot less noticable when the rooms are fully furnished.
A lot of sellers think it's better to sell a house when it's empty - believing it will appear larger. I disagree and actually believe the opposite is true. It's often difficult for buyers to determinie if their own furniture will fit in the space.
Renting furniture is a great option because it not only gives buyers a much better idea of the best use of each room, it also gives them something else to look at besides the minor but glaringly obvious flaws each room has. But renting furniture is not always an affordable option.
If that's the case for you, just make sure all the walls and ceilings are reparied and painted a neutral color, the floors are polished and in good repair and the carpets have been cleaned (or replaced if needed).
Buyers look for reaasons NOT to buy - try not to give them any.
Disclaimer: I'm not suggesting you be dishonest and try to hide or cover up your home's known defects. This would be a huge mistake and you might even get sued for trying. I am suggesting that you accentuate the positives and deal with the negatives - every house has them.
Of course some home sellers will say, "flaws? What flaws? My house is perfect" only because they've grown so accustomed to them that they don't even see them anymore. But that's a discussion for another day....
Comments(15)