Do you prefer to view a house furnished or empty?

[LearnerEarner]

I’m after some advice here, while preparing FIL’s house to sell.

DH and siblings have cleared the house completely, but I am wondering if it would be better with some furniture in, to give an idea of room sizes in the photographs.
Or does it not matter at all?

I like an empty house. Unless it's decorated in the style I want then I'd prefer to see empty rooms.

I like an empty house. I'm good at imagining my own furniture in a space.

I prefer furnished, however a proper floor plan with measurements is the essential part.
Make sure the photos are named as well.

It's really hard to judge the size of sn empty room, do I would leave some in. Unless it's dirty/smelly/wrong size.

I would rather see it empty but then again I can easily visualise spaces and what they will look like with furniture in.

Have a family member who has no imagination whatsoever and when viewing houses was unable to visualise a house in any other configuration than it was already in.
To put this in perspective, when an existing owner had the TV against one wall and a sofa against another, my FM could not consider it any other way and was unable to process repositioning the TV to another wall and moving the sofa.

A sofa, couple of beds and a dining table and chairs all help get an idea of size.

Either, I'm not interested in someone else's furnishings.

I don't care either way and have bought a hoarders repo house, a normal lived in house and am currently buying an empty house.

For those struggling visualising space if the room isn't empty, get on the floor and look at the ceiling. You get funny looks but who cares. Ive done it in every house I've viewed where i haven't been able to work out the real floor size.

Either completely clear or with some (but not too much) furniture. Sometimes for example it's helpful to see a double bed in a bedroom, or a dining table in the dining room to get more of a sense of how things fit. But I definitely don't like houses stuffed full of someone else's belongings.

yes this, basic furniture helps grandmas thimble collection not so much

Empty. Definitely.

Either but I love renovation projects so have seen houses in all sorts of states! I think staged/ with furniture makes houses easier to sell.

Furnished to give a sense of how you could use the space. I find it very hard to picture my furniture in an unfurnished room even if I have a tape measure.

I viewed a house once where the seller had made double beds out of cardboard boxes to demonstrate the space- sounds weird but it worked really well.

As others have said it's useful to see beds in bedrooms to see space, but otherwise not bothered about furniture and a cluttered home feels smaller for sure - especially kitchens and bathrooms. It can be useful to see the real state of flooring/carpets without furniture in.

I think empty is fine but an empty house can be quite unforgiving. I would shampoo the carpets (even if they are old fashioned / worn and likely to be replaced) and clean and touch up paintwork to make the place looks well cared for.

I think a small amount of furniture is useful, just to help potential buyers instantly assess the size of rooms in the photos. I’m pretty good at visualising the potential of a house but I have absolutely terrible spatial awareness- a few bits of furniture to help judge the scale really helps!

Empty house often gives the message of distressed sale
Many can't visualise how the space would be used. Eg What was the dining room to you (room adjacent to a kitchen) just becomes a hallway unless you are clear with table and chairs
Staged sales get more viewers and have fewer reductions on price which is why developers have show homes

Im better with it empty, but I am very good at visualising space and find plans the most helpful. DH cannot see it unless its right in front of him. He was adamant that our sofas and table wouldn't fit in our present house, I knew they were fine. (They are)

Yes, I’m like you in that I don’t find visualising things rearranged, or my own belongings in a space, difficult, but I’m always struck by how many Mners seem completely unable to see beyond what’s there. I imagine that for these people, being unable to visualise from photos might mean they don’t book a viewing.

The last house we sold we sold empty, and it went for well above asking, but it was in a sought-after area. If I were trying to sell something quirky that wasn’t likely to have mass appeal, I’d probably try to include some indicative pieces of furniture. I’d only bother ‘staging’ if I were trying to sell something really difficult.

Honestly it just depends: if the owner's interiors taste is similar to my own it's helpful because it helps me visualise my own furniture in there, if it's very different then I find it distracts me. Which I know isn't helpful! I do like to get a sense of scale though.

Thank you for your responses, some mixed opinions, but looks like the majority prefer it to be empty.

Furnished. Empty houses always look so bleak and unappealing and I find it difficult to judge room size without furniture.

I've viewed and bought in both situations. It's helpful seeing a table for six or a large sofa as you know your stuff will fit. But if the house is empty I would measure my furniture and take a tape measure with me.

Buying - I prefer to see empty as it's easier to spot flaws like damp, gaps in flooring, cracks in walls, etc. not hidden behind furniture or rugs.

Selling - I prefer to furnish as it helps to cover flaws 😂

A 'staged' home would immediately put me off and wonder what the vendors were trying to cover up!