Anyone ever staged an empty house to sell it?

[BeverlyCleary]

We are selling a house which is pretty much empty of furniture. Looking at other properties - all furnished - and after a chat with a friend who staged his flat which then sold very quickly - we are considering getting the house staged. Has anyone ever done this? If so any recommendations of which company you used? Thanks.

Would be helpful to know where you are for company recommendations.

Friends did this with a London flat - it did sell quickly after being on the market for several months. I think it was because you could see the size of the rooms adequately with the furniture in (ie. the Master bedroom could be split to make two doubles which wasn't evident when there was no furniture in it).

Yes.

My ex husband owned a flat when we first met. We moved to another city to rent and he put it on the market totally empty.

It was an old place with odd shaped rooms and empty, it was really hard to visualise where you could fit the bed, where sofas would go.

We went to a charity shop that sold furniture, bought a sofa, armchair, some shelves, bed, wardrobe and bedside tables. Put up some IKEA curtains and dressed the place with books and nic naks to make it looked lived in. Only cost about £300.

It had been on the market for a year empty, which was unusual for area. After we staged it, there were three offers within a week.

When it sold, we gave the furniture back to the charity shop.

Buying second hand furniture (some of it looks amazing, not tatty at all), was way cheaper than using a staging company.

I would say stage the house. From what I've seen, a lot people lack the imagination /perception to appreciate an empty house or one in need of repairs.

No need for a lot but at the very least the big furniture will give an idea of the space.

Good luck!

We moved in with family while renovating a property to move into and had a property to sell. We were able to stage it really well as we had left all of our main items in the house but had no day to day clutter / toys to hide!!!

I haven't but I bought one that had been! There wasn't a lot in it but it did give you a great idea of size. It had a sofa in the lounge, a dining table in the family room (which we ended up buying) and a double bed upstairs. I think it does help because unless you've been around the block I think it's hard to visualize a double room. I would get some bits yourself to fill it with rather than pay a company.

Thanks so much everyone.

Fester we're in south London.

Thanks again everyone for your posts.