Preparing Your Home for Sale- Part 7-What to Do With a Vacant Home!
This is the 7th and final post in a series about Preparing Your Home for 
Sale.
You have now:
1. Committed to selling your home
2. Learned to see your home as others see it
3.Repaired,replaced and refreshed your property
4. Edited, packed and stored what you have
5. Updated where you can.
6. Principles for Staging Your Home - or What Do I Do Now that I’ve Completed Steps 1-5!
What if your house is vacant? There are still things you can do to help protect your investment.
Vacant Staging Tips…..
Placing furniture and accessories in a vacant home is certainly a solution to helping a buyer see the possibilities of the project.
Things to remember- it can be expensive. Your investment will vary depending upon how much you’ll need; the level or quality of the pieces you use; and what the Stager will charge.
Fees will usually cover the inventory rental and Stager’s fee for 2 to 3 months. But every Stager will have their own business model so be sure to ask your local Home Stager.
What if your budget will not allow for this cost of staging?
Make sure that what they will see is clean and repaired. 
Without furniture, the eyes will focus on the space AND the flaws. Slightly worn carpeting will stick out like a sore thumb with nothing else for the Buyer to focus on.
If you have unusually shaped rooms or what I like to call the bowling alley room, you might want to make room in your budget for some furniture and accessories here to show the Buyer what can be done.
This is also when CLEAN is even more important. Make everything sparkle. Clean up bugs that may have chosen your house as their final resting place.
Get rid of the cable cords hanging out of your walls.
When I’m consulting on a vacant home and walk into a room, my eyes always focus on the 10 feet of cable cords snaking out of the wall! Room? What room is what I see.
Keep in mind that without furniture, the only light your house will have is from the windows or the usually inadequate and lone overhead light.
Help your Buyers want to call your house their home. If there is room, for example, place a small counter lamp in the kitchen for warmth.
Some sellers add accessories to the kitchen and bathroom
countertops.
This can be a choice but if you do, make them appear as if they belong.
Vacant homes do sell, especially when price and location are met. Staging key rooms with furniture is like adding the chocolate icing to a very nice cholocate cake.
This is the final post in a series of 7 on Preparing Your Home for Sale
Part 1- Commit to seeing your home as a product that you want to sell.
Part 2- See your house as your Buyers will see it
Part 3- Replace, Repair and Refresh
Part 4- Edit, Store and Pack it up
Part 5- Update where you can
Part 6- Now let’s stage!
If you’re ready to place your house on the market, and want to maximize your investment, call Room Service Home Staging and ask for our Home Staging Consultation!
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