Empty house for sale.

[plinkityplank]

If you were looking for a house would it put you off if the photos showed empty rooms?

we are moving into another property (inherited) so could ‘dress’ our current house for photos but it will be an absolute pain to do so, so we are considering selling it empty. It will be down as ‘no chain’ so I’m hoping buyers will be ok with that.

what are your thoughts?

It wouldn’t put me off, most agents round my way AI some furniture into their photos when marketing empty houses anyway, and I’ve got enough imagination to visualise various room layouts.

I sold an empty house with no chain last year and I would definitely dress it. Mine was empty for the first month and I got viewings but no offers. I ended up putting some furniture and pictures in which made it look much more like a home. A week later I got 2 offers!

It wouldn't bother me OP. I quite like the idea of seeing all the rooms empty so that I can see any potential problems like damp or damage, which might otherwise be covered by furniture.

Could you go for a half-way house option? Dress the lounge, kitchen and master bedroom and leave the others empty?

Would not worry me in the slightest but I know some people have an inability to visualise anything other than what is there.
Personally I would go for the empty rooms, it at least shows people you are not hiding anything (bookcase covering a crack in the wall, sofa over a bare patch in the carpet etc).
Do however make sure it is clean & tidy with no cobwebs, dark patches where pictures & furniture once sat.

Pictures of empty rooms (or nearly empty rooms) scream PROBATE sale to me. If your still waiting for probate on the other house, you can put your house on the market, or ask the agent to take photos before you move.

Some people can visualise, some can't. For those that can't yes it will help, but for most they are looking at space and how their stuff fits and how they will live in it. I wouldn't spend the time or money on dressing it.

It wouldn't bother me. Of the three houses we have bought, two of them were empty. One had relocated for work and the other had died.

If you think it would bother people, can you have photographs taken before you move out?

Wouldn't put me off, it's usually chain free, you can see the rooms sizes and any obvious work that you'd like to do.

I’d much prefer an empty house, it’s easier to see everything and move around, plus it implies less hassle from the owner needing to find somewhere else to move to - they have already gone.

Sell it empty - the buyers can visualise how they can lay out rooms etc.
In fact when I’ve sold - I’ve always decluttered as much as possible before viewings.

It wouldn't put me off - we've previously bought five empty houses (2 x probate including the current one, 2 x owners already moved out and 1 x repossession), but this way we are able to visualise how we'll reconfigure the space. Plus, we only ever buy projects!

Some people can't visualise though. I know when we sold my parents' house we left some furniture in to make it easier to see how to lay out the rooms etc.

I'm buying an empty probate house so it doesn't bother me. Some people have very limited imagination, though!

It wouldn't put me off but I know that many folks have little to no visualisation skills. If it's a fairly expensive property, you will be better off dressing it up a bit or staging the basics at least.

It wouldn’t bother me, if anything I think I would find it easier to visualise my own furniture in there if it was empty.

It wouldn’t put me off but it’s true that generally staged houses sell faster. I used to flip houses and I always staged them. People really have no imagination and I have excellent taste 😃! I sold them a lifestyle they couldn’t hope to have (white sofas, nice art, immaculate children’s rooms with the all wooden toys artfully arranged, a pretty little dress on a hook)…

I’ve bought loads of empty/unoccupied houses in my time, it doesn’t matter although rooms will look bigger and you can’t hide any issues with furniture!

It wouldn't bother me if empty or full to the brim as it's the house I'd be looking at, not the contents. I do appreciate that some people cannot see that, though, and respond better to being sold a lifestyle. I will be selling my parents' house soon, once it's emptied and decorated, but I won't be staging anything for photos.

The last house I sold was empty. It sold immediately, for well above the asking price. Having said that, it was clear that it would. It was a solid, well-built, nicely-decorated 1970s house in a nice location on the edge of a hugely sought-after village. If it had been a quirky or difficult house in an odd location, or the market had been poor, I might have gone to more trouble. As it was, I literally had it well cleaned, paid someone to touch up a few paint scuffs and let the EA at it.

Not RTFT but I have bought 2 houses both empty
Our last house had been a rental and the tenants moved out when landlord marketed it
Current house the family had relocated and struggled to rent it for what they wanted p.m so sold empty bar 2 wardrobes

I actually prefered it as I could really see the potential of the houses uncluttered by peoples stuff!

I sold an elderly relatives house after they passed away. EA advice was that some furniture is better as it makes it easier to judge if pieces of furniture will fit e.g a sofa in the lounge and a double bed in the bedroom. As pp's have said some people find it difficult to visualise

Think if you've got tricky shaped rooms where it's hard to visualise what would go where then maybe 'dress ' the area. In a small bedroom for eg I'd probably leave a bed to show size/ where it would go

I'd prefer it to be empty, rather than full of old people furniture

Sold house earlier this year totally empty. All the viewers (there were lots) loved that they could see how big the rooms were. It was 10 weeks from going on the market to completion. 30 odd years ago we bought our current house empty. Made it much easier to see what we needed to do and where our furniture would fit.

No I viewed our (hopefully) new house empty and I love that I can imagine all of our furniture in there.