Should I put some furniture in an empty house to sell it?

[Saracen]

Do you think buyers need to see some furniture in a house in order to properly visualise how big the rooms are and what they can fit in? If so, would you put some beds and chairs etc in just for the photos, or leave it in for viewings?

The house we are selling is a bog standard two-up two-down in a popular city where there is a shortage of similar "starter" homes, so I think there will be a reasonable amount of interest.

But I need to get people in the door. It is bigger than it looks from the outside, being a narrow deep mid-terrace. When we were house hunting, I wouldn't have gone to look at it myself because I would have assumed it was too small. I was viewing a property around the corner and the agent said, "While you're here, why don't you just look at this one too?" He had to persuade me to set foot inside, and then I saw it was a decent size after all.

I don't think I need to dress it in a fancy way like a proper show home. Maybe I'll just put a double bed in the bigger bedroom and a single in the smaller bedroom so people can see there's still plenty of room for a wardrobe and desk, and a dining table and chairs downstairs. I should be able to do it on the cheap. I can source everything but the beds from our own house up the road. Does that seem like a good idea?

I'd love to say no because it's an unbearable faff, but I only sold my house after I put some furniture back in - I'd moved by then and was living in rented plus paying the mortgage.
People just cannot seem to imagine where to put anything and how big the rooms are without it.
I even had the actual buyer photograph my furniture so they knew where to put their own stuff and how to style the rooms which were an odd shape.

I would, as it gives a sense of perspective and size to the rooms Would your budget allow for a dressing company to stage your home for the sales photos?

Last 2 houses We’ve bought have been empty , one had carpet , curtains Dosnt make any difference to me. I’m not buying the sellers stuff I’m just buying the house . You can see more of the house when it’s empty.

Apparently most buyers have no imagination, or at least, struggle to envisage furniture in place. So I'd say, do it if you can, with minimal furniture, eg beds in bedrooms and max 1 other piece of furniture. Even just a sofa in a living room, and if there are any other roo. S, add a desk. Less is more - people want to see the floorspace.

Thanks guys, that confirms what I thought! I myself have no imagination and have to mark out the size of a room in my back garden and calculate what would fit in - it's easier if I can just see "oh yes, that fits a double bed with plenty of space to spare". DH will take a bit of persuading because he can envision it easily and thinks everyone else can too.

@Newyeardietstartstomorrow yes, we could afford to have it professionally staged if I thought it was important, but I don't think I need to. The house is nothing special - it's practical but nobody is going to fall in love with it - and as I say, there aren't many houses at this price point. I think it should sell if people can see it isn't poky.

I'd say no as if they have a viewing, they can see for themselves how big the place is. Everyone knows estate agents use fish-eye lenses and every trick in the book to make places look bigger.

Save yourself the expense.

Then you either have the hassle of removing the furniture again or hoping they will. My flat sold with 2 armchairs in it that previous tenant had left and I couldn't get them down the stairs by myself. Our buyer wants to keep them so win-win.

my friend rented a house on a short let that the owner couldn’t sell after a year of being on the market (had no furniture in). As soon as my friend moved in & got In furniture it sold - so I def think it helps.
dont think you need a huge effort just enough to let people visualise it.

We bought our last four houses when totally empty. Actually prefer it because you get to see everything, warts and all..

I think beds in bedrooms can be useful. But make them full size... we got put off Show Houses when we realised they were putting short beds in. It shows the bed won't block the radiator for example.

Yes, put the basics into each room.
We got the keys to this house a week before we moved in. Had a major panic when we walked through the empty house at how small it was. It wasn't (and isnt!) small. It just looses all perspective without furniture to give you an idea of the space.

Put furniture in.

Our sale fell through after we had moved everything out and the house just looked awful and uncared for without furniture.

I would definitely find beds useful. Other than that, I wouldn't bother. A dining table could be absolutely tiny and there's no real way to tell.

What I do find useful is floor plans that a) includes feet (instead of just metres) and b) tells me if measurements go into built in cupboards/bay windows. That's as much as I need for size decisions.

I'm not sure if it's a local to me thing but if the house is empty there's no/discounted council tax but as soon as you have furniture in you have to pay again.

That is local to you - in Oct last year we had a house on the market, totally empty (no curtains even) - had to pay full price council tax from day 1 of the previous tenants moving out.

The house had two offers in within 2 weeks and completed 3 months later.

Yes, where I live we have to pay full council tax unless the house is uninhabitable, e.g. bathroom ripped out - and even then it's only a 25% discount!

In fact, if the house remains empty for more than a year, we have to start paying double council tax.

I would especially if it shows off the size of the rooms.

Most buyers can’t get their mind round that a bedroom that someone is using as an office can be a bedroom.

Friends 5 bed house had viewers saying that really there was only actually 3 bedrooms and they needed 5
1 bedroom she was using as an office and one bedroom was used as an upstairs separate living room.

Weekend shoving sofas to the side of the room and buying beds and hiding office stuff in ikea furniture and dressing rooms as bedrooms and the first viewer who saw the new look bought the house.