Real Estate
It’s harder to sell a vacant home compared to a furnished one By Ilyce Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin, Tribune Content Agency
Q
: Is it better to put a home
up for sale when it is vacant or to leave the furniture in the home? I may need to move to a different location for my job, and am wondering how to approach this. Your help is highly appreciated. Thank you.
A
: Most real estate agents will tell you it’s harder to sell a vacant home than one that’s furnished, even if the furnishings are a bit dated. There are several reasons for this. First, it’s hard for buyers to visualize empty space. When you have a couch, two chairs, a table and several houseplants in a living room, for example, buyers can mentally swap out their own furniture for yours and have a sense of size, space and what the room will comfortably hold. They can sit down on your coach and envision themselves sitting on their own couch, enjoying a calm Sunday morning. But in an empty house, buyers wander around trying to assess just
REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS The following data is supplied by Colorado Weekly Homebuyers List Inc., 303-744-2020. Listed are the buyer, the property address, the seller and the amount. Berthoud • Daniel and Joy Gaschler — 19996 County Road 3, Diane Marjorie Reed, $37,800. • Benjamin and Jolynn Denogean — 433 Gunn Ave., John and Diane Hutton, $182,500. • Allison Hannah — 1507 Willow Drive, Brice Enterprises LLC, $280,000. • James and Helen Mendenhall — 1159 Arapahoe Ave., Robert Rayhel, $371,000. • Allen Inman — 815 Jenny Lane, Richfield Homes LLC, $381,300. • Ian and Saryna Mitchell — 549 S. 12 AT HOME
how big the space is. Even if you give buyers an architectural plan or floor plan, it’s still hard for them to visualize just how much of their possession will fit. Next, when a house is vacant, buyers naturally assume that the sellers have moved on with their lives. They’re clearly no longer living in the property, so the assumption is that the house is slowly (or even quickly) falling into disrepair with no one there to make sure mechanical systems are working and the property is being maintained correctly. Vacant homes send the message that the seller is willing to deal on price and terms, and if you get an offer, it may reflect a price that is below what the property would fetch if it had been furnished. This brings us to staging. When sellers have moved out of the property, they will often hire a professional home stager to make the home look like someone is living there, even if you’re not. They might use your furniture or they might rent some very modern-looking furnishings to give the home a different look and feel. Their suggestions may include everything from repainting your walls to changing out door-
Fifth St., Saint Aubyn Homes LLC, $418,300. • Todd and Jill Potrykus — 1145 Shelby Drive, Christopher E. Fair, $654,900.
knobs, fixtures and fans. How much of their advice you take is up to you (and your budget), but it will give you the freedom to move without worrying about selling a vacant property. Now, if your home has furniture that is so dated or period-specific that few buyers would like today, your furnishings could detract from a sale. In that case, staging the home would be better; and if you refuse to stage the home, having an empty home may be better than having the home with the furnishings that are currently there. A good real estate broker can give you some advice as to whether your furniture is suited for the home or not. We recently came across a home that is quite beautiful, but the furnishings in the home make that home feel like you’re in a museum from the 1700s. Every picture focused on the furniture and its look and feel from 300 years ago. The sellers reduced the price of the home by 15 percent and wondered why buyers weren’t interested. We think this particular home would have been more salable if it were vacant, given the decor. But, it could have generated a lot more interest had it been better staged and
Fort Collins • S and Dorothy Dill — 7210 Housmer Park Drive, Steven and Tamela Ryan, $165,000. • Leslie and Michalla Fowler — 1231 W. Swallow Road, Apt. 311, Estes Park Sushma Subramanya, $190,000. • Derek Brooks — 540 Birch • Alexis Coppello — 3024 Ross Ave., Unit 2, Ralph Redmond, Drive, Apt. A-6, Logan H. Boon, $149,000. $198,000. • Jordon Cram — 1121 Fairway • Armando and Sheila Balloffet Club Circle, Unit A2, Luther and — 1440 Edora Road, Apt. 32, Evelyn Cole, $190,000. Patrick L. McKee Revocable Trust, • David Winder — 2120 Fall River $198,500. Road, No. 10, Gregory and Eliza• Cyndi Brown — 4803 Prairie beth Moroney, $260,000. Vista Drive, John M. Gromek, • Luke and Meghan Kearns — 2211 $203,000. Larkspur Ave., Garry and Melinda • Todd Campbell — 4245 BoardBloom, $426,000. walk Drive, Unit F4, Jana and Jan • Robert and Corynne Edgerton Stribling, $205,000. — 1225 Timber Mountain Lane, • Stephen and Judith Cronk — 4409 Susan Warcup, $447,500. Flattop Court, Seth and Marisha • Trent and Dawn Nowka — 2482 Hershberger, $205,000. Tunnel Road, James M. Roe Revo• Jeffrey Kleven — 2828 Silverplume cable Trust, $805,000. Drive, Apt. E3, Kleven Colorado Properties, $209,400. Reporter-Herald – AtHomeColorado.com
photographed. Can you stage your own home? Absolutely. Start by visiting open houses in your neighborhood to see what your competition looks like. Next, look to Pinterest and HGTV for some ideas on making over the look of your home. Finally, Ilyce has published a couple of staging videos on her YouTube channel (www. youtube.com/user/ExpertRealEstateTips) that you may want to view. Search for “Staging Your Home For Sale” and “Staging Your Bedroom and Bathrooms.” —————————————— (Ilyce Glink is the creator of an 18-part webinar+ebook series called “The Intentional Investor: How to be wildly successful in real estate,” as well as the author of many books on real estate. She also hosts the “Real Estate Minute,” on her YouTube channel. Samuel J. Tamkin is a Chicago-based real estate attorney. Contact Ilyce and Sam through her website, ThinkGlink.com.)
• Nick Augustine — 4545 Wheaton Drive, Unit B250, Sarah B. Cure, $214,000. • William and Jacqueline Tinsley — 2828 Silverplume Drive, Apt. T1, Beverly Jean Weichel Trust, $236,000. • Emmett and Pamela Formby — 5620 Fossil Creek Parkway, Unit 8101, Suzette L. Simonich, $239,500. • Todd Johnson — 2450 Windrow Drive, Unit E204, Scott T. Reiman, $251,000. • Diana Sinatra — 603 Joanne St., Joan P. Murphy, $252,000. • Rachael Strodtman — 6602 Avondale Road, Unit J, Fort Collins Habitat For Humanity, $258,000. • Timothy and Jennifer Dinkins — 1138 Elgin Court, CC Investments LP, $284,000. • Darren Cockrell — 1109 Fenwick Drive, Jesse Thomas Jimenez, $297,000. • Gregory Morrison — 2306 March 25-26, 2017