You open the door to find nothing except blank, off-white walls starring back at you. You notice the huge scratch in the hardwood floors, then the hole in the wall about the size of a quarter, not to mention the paint job that could use a touch up. Are you standing where the couch should go? Or maybe the dining table?
Walking into a vacant space can be quite exhausting for a buyer who doesn’t have that creative touch. A vacant home not only looks smaller, but as little as, 10% of home buyers can visualize the potential of a vacant space, which can make this a hard sell for many Realtors.
There are a few ways to go about helping buyers notice the positive features of a vacant home depending on the seller’s budget. While I would always recommend furnishing the home through home staging, first here are two suggestions to keep costs down.
If your sellers are screaming poverty and refuse to spend money on staging after you’ve educated them of the benefits, then as a Realtor at the very least try to walk around with the buyer, you be their imagination. Tell them where that couch could go, how big of a bed would fit in this space, where they could have their office, yet also spend family time. Take out the tape measure so they get a sense of how big the space is or even tape out on the floor how big a furniture item is. Go the extra mile to get them to visualize their own items in this empty, desolate space.
But maybe your sellers have a few hundred dollars to attract buyers, take advantage of this budget and opt for virtual staging. By using the homes actual images you can see what the property would look like if it were furnished. It will appear if the furniture is actually in the home when the photos are used as a marketing tool to help lure buyers to the home, the only downside it’s still a vacant space when they walk. So be sure to get blow-up pictures of the virtual staging and showcase in each room and again, you be their imagination.
Now, if your client has a few thousand to spend on staging the home with rental furniture, then it’s important to choose items that are not only flattering to the buyer, but are authentic to the location and style of the home. Remember home staging is an invaluable marketing tool that can help your client’s home stand out amongst the competition.
Our company recently staged a vacant home inside Turtle Bay Towers at 210 East 46th St. in New York City. After changing Realtors, EAR Properties obtained the listing and was faced with a challenge to get this space sold. They had to think outside the box and called us to stage this vacant 1-bedroom Co-Op, that overlooked the U.N. Building. As stagers we consider not only who we’re trying to appeal to, but use the location of the home as inspiration. In this transformation, we merged cultures to create a harmonious, edgy design that could appeal to a diplomat from another country or maybe a young local who’s trying to make their way up the political food chain.
This staging not only made a huge difference in showing off the amount of space in this Co-op, but now when buyers walk-in there is a clear vision, purpose to each room and the amount of furniture that would fit into the space.
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