Two empty bedrooms when selling

[BorgQueen]

My DD will be putting her 4 bed detached house up for sale soon, her ex is moving into a rental next week and will be taking everything from two of the bedrooms, he has two older kids who used to stay every weekend.
Is it going to look odd on the EA photos that two kids bedrooms are empty?

I am considering putting a futon style bed and a bedside unit from my house in the bigger room ( to detract from the star wars carpet) and perhaps a desk and chair plus ottoman in the smallest one?
I’m also wondering what to do in the sitting room, they ripped out the fireplace last year to put a large media unit over the chimney breast, his Dad did a real bodge job and basically stuck a board over the hole in the wall, you can’t see it now but once the unit is gone it will look awful, no skirting board, no carpet where the hearth used to be and a raised board on the wall.
If the alcove edges under the board are ok, I could just paint inside the alcove ( DH capped off the gas pipe, and put a chimney balloon up) and look for a 2nd hand slate hearth or something to cover the missing section of carpet, plus some skirting to finish.

However if there is damaged wall behind the board it’s going to be a nightmare, I think the easiest option is to look for a cheap fire surround on fb/ebay?

Yes, you need to dress the rooms for sure. People won't be able to get to grips with the dimensions of the space without furniture in it. And I'd get some basic repairs done to the wall, it'll look terrible in pictures otherwise. The pictures need to be as good as you possibly can make them.

The wall unit will be there when the EA pics are taken, it takes up almost the whole wall, it’s one of the massive lkea ones.
I’m thinking more of when it’s sold, it would be a nasty surprise for the buyers.

I think the little bedroom needs furnishing for sure, it will be hard to gauge the size without. The other room is identical to my Grandson’s room in size and layout but it’s whether people would realise that from the pics.
I only have the one spare bed though so it’s which room to put it in.

Ask the EA to photo the rooms before Ex takes the furniture - even if it's just those rooms for now and the whole house later. I would also sell the house with the media unit included - treat it as built in furniture, replacing it at the new house will probably be cheaper than sorting out that wall.

People have no imagination. It wouldn't bother me but having read posts on here and other forums I can imagine that it will put at least some people off. Leave it for a bit and see if it gets any viewings / offers.

Two suggestions:
Get the photographer in NOW, before the furniture goes, or get the photographer to photo one bedroom, then do downstairs, while you move the furniture to the other empty room, dump a new duvet on the bed, and then photo that room at the end. So the pictures have all furnished rooms, even if one is empty one viewings.

Media wall harder. Could the cabinet be classed as fitted, and so left?? Or would they want to take it? I wouldn't spend too much money on fixing behind the furniture tho.

When I sold my house I dressed my two empty spare rooms with a bed, drawers etc from freecycle and moved bits like photos, plants etc from other rooms in the house to make them look lived in- might be worth a look?

Just cdecor the rooms, ie lick of paint and if you have older carpets replace these - you will be ok imo

Not possible to photograph now, the rooms are a mess - cabin bed and bunk beds are dismantled and ready to move and even before that the rooms were crammed full of stuff 🙄
I can’t wait till he shifts it all, not to mention all his crap out of the garage.
I have a feeling that he will want the media unit, he was the one who insisted on having it, as well as the godawful ceiling lights.

I’ve cleaned / decluttered DD’s room and ensuite and also done DGS’s room and the main bathroom. The playroom needs a serious declutter but when he takes a load of toys and games it will be better, as will the kitchen when he takes some of the dozens of mugs and glasses 🙄
DD has no headspace for any of this, she’s upset / furious that he’s left and she’s a teacher with GCSE’s incoming, not to mention my 5 year old Grandson’s universe being destroyed.
If she didn’t have £50k of equity to protect, she’d have walked away and let him deal with it all.

When I had an empty bedroom to dress I packed up the bits that I could into large packing boxes and placed them together making a bed shape which I covered with bedding to look like a made up bed! Estate agent didn’t realise that it wasn’t a real bed 😉

I bought my last 3 houses when they were totally empty with no furniture in any photos.

It depends on the price, popularity of the area, other things for sale.

There's certain areas where houses will sell within days no matter how they are presented. There are others where it will make a real difference.

The lack of furniture wouldn't bother me but viable botched jobs would cos I'd worry about what other things in the house has been done badly.

Is the ex expecting to take equity from the house? Then he needs to be responsible for either agreeing to leave the media unit behind or contributing towards fixing the bodge job!

IKEA furniture doesnot dismantle and reassemble well. I'd try and convince him to leave it. If it's that big it should be screwed in to the walls. If not. they would have to say it was not included on the fixing and fixtures form as people will probably assume it is.
As for bedrooms I'm all for dressing them, but not with just anything. They need to look better than just stuff thrown in there, otherwise leave empty.

This.

Is it your house or your daughter's

I agree that he'd be mad to take the IKEA unit and leave the sitting room looking like it's a big job to fix. Surely he could see that his need to grab a cheap unit could wipe £10k off the price achieved? Some buyers are lazy and his market would be reduced. Or is he not getting any of the equity and would enjoy reducing the value?

Her ex will have approx £20-25k of equity, after paying the ERC and selling /conveyancing fees.
It wasn’t a ‘cheap’ unit, I think he paid £700 and he definitely wants it, it will be pretty much the only piece of downstairs furniture he takes.

There are currently 2 similar 4 bed houses for sale within the area, one has no garage and is £285k, one has a double garage and is £325k , DD is hoping for £305-310k, she has a single garage and is closest to the Primary/infants/nursery, hers also has the biggest garden. The 3 back bedrooms can all take a double bed too and her master bedroom is huge, takes up almost the whole front, along with the ensuite.
The houses on DD’s road rarely come up for sale, I doubt it will take long to sell, a house on the road behind sold very quickly last year.
It’s all freshly decorated, carpets/ flooring all ok, bathrooms were practically brand new when they bought it 3 years ago.

What a great idea!!