Staging an empty house for sale - quick and easy solutions please!

[NormaSnorks]

We've been renting out our former house for the last few years but have decided to sell early next year. Current tenant is moving out at the end of the month after four years.

I know it's going to need some work to get it ready to sell, but I'm just wondering what IS and ISN'T worth doing? I know that empty homes sell for less, so we were thinking of staging it to some extent with some spare furniture from our current house and some new bits and pieces which I can resell afterwards. I did contact a couple of companies, but they were all quoting upwards of £2500 for staging and furniture loan for 6 weeks.

Has anyone done this? Can you offer any tips about where to get cheap modern furniture/ art etc. Colour schemes that are 'in' etc?

Some things we're looking at:

• kitchen is fake beech wood doors, but not sure it's worth replacing. Should we get them painted/ sprayed?
• it's carpeted and carpets are a bit tired (but could probably be hidden with a few carefully placed rugs!)
• current tenant has damaged the kitchen worktops by cutting directly on them and putting hot pans on them😡but replacement is harder as a gas hob is involved which requires a gas safety engineer

Just clean it. "Staging" just made me laugh and assume that the sellers would be difficult

It depends on the value of the house. If it’s a £200k house with 3 bedrooms you could probably pick up a lot of free are cheap second hand stuff on Facebook market place. Put a bed in each room, sofa, table and chairs, garden table and chairs too. It gives people an idea of the rooms via the photos. I’d leave the kitchen but ensure your estate agent does their job, “it’s a working kitchen so you have something to start with, it will need replacing but you can choose what you like rather than the vendor putting in a new kitchen you don’t like which you then don’t want to rip out because it’s new. It has been priced accordingly”

If it’s a £800k house you may need to do more.

It's a small 3 bedroom townhouse over 3 floors - prob on market for <£500k

Just clean it.
Buyers will see through smoke and mirror tactics. They'll know it's an ex-rental, and the worktop damage can't be concealed by cheap tricks.

On a 450,000 house, I'd spend 5k getting a bed in each room, sofas, kitchen table. Marketplace might come up trumps, especially if you can transport and store.

Put in a very gentle air freshener (ideally switch it on half an hour before viewings and iff ehen you leave) - I hate air fresheners, but when it's pelting down with rain, and the house has been locked up for a week, it's really hard to make it smell fresh.

Curtains or blinds in each room. I'd pick a colour once you've got a sofa!!

I would just clean it and maybe repaint any rooms that are grubby

Our house is currently on the market. Changes I wanted to make

• back door with a horrible yellow cat flap which has been here for the last eight years since we moved in
• carpets are tired and worn
• splashback is burned? Stained? Also from when we moved in but it would be a mission to replace.

I asked the estate agents which ones to prioritise, and they said don’t bother with any of it. Nothing is so awful that it can’t be lived with, and replaced over time with the new owners. Who knows, maybe the dodgy cat flap will be there in another eight years (and no, we don’t have a cat).

Can you clean up the carpets or are they beyond hope? If so I might put in nice neutral (not expensive) carpets so buyers see they can just move in, old carpets often retain smells as well which can be off putting. If the walls are painted you could give another coat of a similar colour where necessary, if it's looking a bit scratched and marked. I don't mind an empty house I look at dimensions and how the house would work for me. Clean the windows, kitchen and bathrooms, tidy up the garden just so it doesn't look a wilderness and I would leave it at that.

I wouldn't bother doing anything to the kitchen.

You can perk carpets up by washing them - elbow grease and hire a rug doctor.
If there's still bad bits after that then yes rugs.

Agree with the air freshener - you want it to smell nice and empty houses usually don't. Or get a coffee maker and put some coffee on just before people come

Bedrooms - good idea to stage with double/single bed as people often struggle to imagine what it would look like. You don't really need more than that.

Clean it, that's all. Never spend money getting ready for sale unless it's actually essential repairs (well perhaps excluding basic paint to cover up a child writing on the walls for instance)

I wouldn't spend money on stuff that you're going to then have to dispose of. Make sure it's clean, maybe a fresh coat of paint on any grotty rooms.
Make good any damage. Although the kitchen is more than just cosmetic damage by the sound of it. If you have spare furniture I would maybe put in a few items so it's not too bleak.
We sold the PIL house a few years ago and whilst not staged as such, we reduced the furniture down to the bare bones and got rid of all the clutter. So bed and bedside table and lamp, dining area had table and chairs but nothing else. It did look very tidy and minimal but in a good way.
I'd probably have curtains etc up if you don't already and a couple of reed diffusers to balance out the place lacking regular airing. But ideally open windows etc ahead of viewings and turn in heating so it's not cold.

Having sold 2 2mory homes in the last 2 years, I wouldn't agree they got for less!

Just have it as clean as possible, intelligent people don't need furniture in to work out where theirs will gob

I wouldn't pay to get more furniture to put in there at this stage.

We sold after moving out into a rental so the house was empty, no curtains etc. We paid for end of tenancy style cleaners to do a really thorough clean, including windows inside and out (window cleaner did outside), oven clean and carpet shampoo. The carpets were old but serviceable (ie no holes etc!). We paid someone local to clear leaves outside twice a week whilst it was on the market. In terms of kerb appeal it looked smart and well maintained.

I wouldn't pay to fix worktops etc. Either someone will buy it intending to put in new kitchen/carpets etc or someone will buy it knowing it's clean and they could move in straightaway and gradually update.

We did repaint a few places where paintwork was very worn and chipped - a couple of corners, where a stairgate had been type stuff.

I have actually staged a few ex rentals for sale (not mine!)
It makes a huge difference. Especially in this market. Please ignore all the "clean and leave" people. It just isn't true.
The most economical things are paint and your own/borrowed furniture.
The most important thing is to get out of the rental mindset. No magnolia.
Is it a period house? You can go stylish with colours.
Anything else? I used to use Ammonite but now I like portland stone light or slaked lime dark. Schoolhouse White an option.
cupboards can be painted and a worktop can be vinyl wrapped.without disrupting the hob.
Be judgemental about carpet.
Clean them all, maybe rugs in bedrooms and replace one in main reception.
Cheap and sell. Quality makes itself known in time.
I once hung my own silk curtains in a room, I think it sold the flat.

I agree - make as clean as possible.

Re worktops, two choices. You can either cover up the bad bits with chopping boards. Or you could replace. If you cover them up it may not work in your favour if they uncover and discover the damage !

Not sure about why replacing the worktops are a problem. I had mine done and the gas safe engineer was £200 to move the hob. I suppose the question is how transformative new worktops would be. If you think the new owners would be likely to replace the whole kitchen as it is old and tired then maybe not worth it.

I think the most important thing is your positioning. Either you are positioning the house as something ready to move into, in which case everything has to be well finished. Or a doer upper in which case bad bits are acceptable. It's when you are half way between these two extremes you have issues.

Just make sure its really clean, repaint anything if its really grubby ? No junk anywhere ( house ,garden ) clean carpets if they are dirty and make it smell clean , fresh when you walk in. I would much rather view an empty house than one with somebody furniture/ stuff in.

A pair of silk curtains would definitely not swing the sale for me . 😏

Why not start with getting a carpet cleaner in (I think I paid £200 for a full house deep carpet clean and you wouldn't believe the difference) and a good wash down of the walls/doors/skirting. Tidy the garden, and then get it on the market.
Then see what interest you get. If its slow, or viewing feedback indicates it could do with staging/ worktop refurb then you can do that but you haven't wasted money and time if it doesn't need it.

In this current market I would-

• get the carpets professionally cleaned;
• paint the kitchen doors (try frenchic alfresco);
• try to either sand or wrap the worktop, or if not get just that bit replaced with wood block;
• get a professional end of tenancy clean;
• heat and ventilate well;
• stage beds, wardrobes and sofas and outside areas (nice winter pots, table and chairs).

You should be able to do this for 2-3k and I think you’d get the money back (plus can you retain something from the tenant’s deposit for the kitchen worktop?). The kitchen is something I’d definitely focus on, as if people think they couldn’t live with what’s there they will be looking at taking 15k off asking plus many people will see a dated kitchen photo and won’t even view it.

Unless you hate the smell of coffee like me

That would put me off a house 😂

When I was preg and had hg literally someone walking past me with a Costa etx would make me heave and be sick

Get a carpet cleaner. Clean carpets. Paint walls so fresh

Doesn't neee furniture

If anything rooms look bigger without

Ask a local estate agent. What's worth doing will vary depending on the house value and the area.

The person who sold using a pair of silk curtains appears to be selling high end ex rentals. The paint colours mentioned are Farrow and Ball.

This doesn't sound like that kind of house. We simply cleaned up well and repainted worn bits in Dulux and house sold. Without curtains.

Oh and heating on ahead of viewings. You want the bare minimum on anyway for frost protection but we were viewing houses during winter and it makes a big difference going in somewhere that's warm and welcoming (and where evidently the heating works!) than somewhere cold and miserable.

Goto has it right in one!