Home magazine: empty space is a big waste

Quoted from themercury. 

September 5, 2015 5:00pm

DONIELLE LUTTRELLMercury

A home is more warm and welcoming for potential buyers with the right furnishings and artwork.

HAVE you ever stepped into an empty house for sale and wondered where will your furniture fit or does this room look small?

If so, you wouldn’t be alone. Most people I talk to cannot accurately see the way an empty house could be used, as there are no visual cues to give dimension or a sense of space.

There are many reasons why someone would be selling an empty house. The property may be a new display home, or previously tenanted, or the owners may have already found a new home and moved on. Whatever the reason, empty properties are expensive to maintain, with bills (insurance costs, mortgage payments and maintenance upkeep) pouring in as usual.

The owners understandably want to sell swiftly, but unfortunately empty homes don’t sell as fast as furnished ones. But why not?

There’s no emotional tie

AN empty property offers no emotional connection with buyers. How can a buyer fall in love with bare walls when all they can see are the faults? An empty house doesn’t conjure up any imagination or feelings to turn the house into a home. As I mentioned in a previous column, only 10 per cent of buyers can visualise a house’s potential.

An empty room is difficult for property buyers to visualise the space.

Neutral furnishings show how a room could be lived in.

There’s no point of reference

EMPTY rooms actually look smaller than furnished ones (even as property stylists, we have to measure spaces after all these years to ensure our furniture will fit). Carefully selected furniture gives buyers a measurement of scale to compare items to their pieces. “Our dining table is bigger than this one, but I can see it will fit this room,” is the sort of thing buyers think. It also gives an idea of layout for the home taking into consideration any views, walkways, lifestyle factors such as TV viewing and entertaining.

Buyers will focus on negatives

BUYERS tend to focus on the negatives in an empty home, as there isn’t much else to look at. They will see faults in light switches, cornice work, paintwork, door handles, broken tiles and so on. These small things leave big negative impressions and buyers may calculate the cost to fix these things — usually doubling or even tripling the cost. Buyers don’t get excited about the negative aspects of a home unless they are looking for a bargain — which will be reflected in their offer. You don’t want your home to be considered a fixer-upper.

It’s cold and lifeless inside

EMPTY homes are cold and lifeless and they lack appeal. The lights are not on, there is no welcoming doormat and the curtains are usually pulled shut. What is meant to make a home homely is just not there.

You may blow your chances

TESTING the vacant home for sale first is akin to testing the market at an extra high price — and the chances of a negative outcome are high. You only have one chance to make a positive first impression. Most of those initially interested buyers can’t be bothered coming back again because they have seen the property, judged it and moved on.

Marketing is limited

THERE is only so much marketing you can do with an empty space. Marketing factors for a property include a realistic price, the location and the presentation. Even professional photos or video cannot wow a buyer with shots of corners of rooms and bare walls. Location cannot change so that leaves the price as the only marketing strategy to influence a buyer’s decision. We all know price adjustments usually trend down, not up.

There is only so much marketing that can be done with an empty space.

The room photographs beautifully once furniture and artworks are in place.

Online opportunities could be lost

MOST people begin their property buying experience online these days. In minutes, they’ve found a few interesting listings from a series of photos and attractive descriptions. But what if your home is vacant? Your empty listing looks nearly the same as everyone else’s empty living room, kitchen and bedroom unless it has a standout feature — but even this might not be captured in the image. If you cannot entice someone to click on your listing they will skip to something else — opportunity lost.

You’ll attract less traffic

THERE will be less traffic online and at open homes. Empty properties are also vulnerable to breakins. But what could they steal? Surprisingly, power point covers, new kitchen appliances and sometimes doors and plants.

It could give a wrong impression

THERE is a perception of desperation. Buyers may jump to the conclusion that the owner needs to sell and negotiate the price down.

On the contrary, a styled home won’t leave buyers doubtful about the use of a space, it will allow them to visualise the rooms with their own furniture and lifestyle and ultimately increase your selling price and decrease your time on the market.

You may like to consider property styling — which is more an investment than a cost. Statistics show property styling draws more traffic to the property and creates that all-important emotional connection with the buyer.

Statistics show the cost of professional styling is 1-3 per cent of the asking price, and results in a 5 to 10 per cent higher sales price.