House hunting with my grandmother was always interesting. Before I was an agent, I used to pick up my Grandma on Sunday afternoons and take her to look at open houses. (We wanted her to move closer to us, but she didn't want to commit to an agent.)
My grandmother is a brilliant woman when is comes to business and numbers, but her ability to visualize is non-existent. This became very clear to me when we visited a great house that had a grand piano in the living room.
She surveyed the room and said, "There's just not much room with that piano in here." 
"Grandma, the piano doesn't stay with house," I responded.
"Oh, I know," she replied, looked around again. Then she repeated, "There's just not much room with that piano in here."
We went on like that for quite some time. The house was perfect for her. It was a one-story home, near our house and well-priced. In her head, she knew the piano wouldn't stay, but she just could not visualize it any other way. She didn't put in an offer.
I have since discovered that most people are not great at visualizing. I, myself, can walk into a room and imagine all kinds of possibilities, and perhaps you can too, but we are in the minority.
The same principle holds true for vacant homes. Recently, I was showing homes in a new development. The young couple I was working with looked at two model homes, both with the same floor plan, one furnished and the other unfurnished. They were shocked to realize that the furnished one seemed bigger! Having furniture in the rooms gave their eyes a means by which to measure the space.
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