IMO, a good idea. I loved to tour empty houses.
I loved looking at empty houses…like a “clean slate”.
Realtors generally frown on empty rooms because it’s harder to get a sense of size and scale however my personal opinion is that it’s way better to show empty than with furniture that could be a turn off to some buyers. It shocking how some people can’t see past existing decor (furniture, paint colors etc) when it would all change the second they own the house.
I’ll admit to having problems seeing past decor especially and to a lesser extent paint colors I don’t like. I’d honestly prefer to see an empty house.
I read something once that referenced research claiming that empty homes stay on the market longer than tastefully decorated occupied or professionally staged homes.
But I’m too lazy to look for it.
So much depends on the real estate market @gunnerz. Where I live it’s so competitive it honestly doesn’t matter if the house has furniture or not: multiple offers after one weekend of an open house are almost guaranteed. If where you live houses sit on the market and you want a quick sale, a few pieces may help the less sophisticated buyer who has trouble gauging size/scale.
@thumper1 I would think carefully about the boiler. New ones tend to not last long. If yours is efficient, well maintained, and in good shape, it might not be a good idea to replace it.
Re disclosures: every house we bought, the sellers were obviously lying through their teeth.
DH might just have the controls replaced.
It’s number 3 on the to do list anyway…
- Upstairs carpet
- Driveway repaving
- Heat fix.
When we bought our home, it had ugly lavender and avocado colors with paint and furniture in the color scheme. We loved the house anyway and bought it. The two units we sold were totally empty with new carpet and new white paint. I did buy new hand towels and fancy soaps and soap dishes for the bathroom (which we took back before closing). We purchased AND sold before the 1st formal open house.
Clean was key and no problems in the places we bought or those we sold.
I am always suspicious if a piece of furniture is intended to mask a spot in the hardwood or a chewed up corner. Lifting furniture during inspection is a pita.
I bought a duplex once that the owners son stayed with me during the first walk through. He was there at the final walk through before closing and I reminded him that the layers and layers of unattached carpeting needed to be removed. He replied that he didn’t think so because it was “wall to wall carpeting”. I replied - none of those carpets are attached to the walls so they are area rugs and need to be removed to close early as you requested. They were removed but he was not happy that he had to do that chore!
We are in the process of getting our house ready to list and are exhausted from doing so much prep work. We built our house in the 90s and dearly love it, but it looks like a house from the 90s. We interviewed 2 different realtors and they told us almost exactly the same things that need to be changed/updated. So we’re replacing the hinges and door handles everywhere (did not realize just how many interior doors we have in this house!) to get rid of the shiny brass and replace with satin nickel. Ditto for all the light fixtures. I love color and love the colors in many of the rooms in our house, but it is all being repainted a boring neutral color. And the once-popular honey oak cabinets are all going to be painted a creamy white color. And the list goes on and on. Hopefully it will all be worthwhile since our main competition will be with new construction going up where everything is bright and new. In the meantime, it’s a LOT of work!
I thought that we were competing against new construction, until I realized that new construction was either on tiny lots and near busy roads or cost 1.5x our list price. Honey maple cabinets did not deter our buyers one bit. We did change all hardware on the doors and put in rimless shower glass to get rid of the shiny brass. Amazon was a godsend - those hinges etc. come in dozen packs or even 50-pack, and what did not fit got shipped back for free.
I would not paint wood cabinets. I think many buyers like wood.
I would not paint them either! If the stain/varnish is in good shape, leave them as is. Plus, if the oak is grainy, then it will be hard to mask with paint… we have some oak bookshelves painted in our House2, and you can see the texture. Ugh. That will be a big project to rip them out and replace with wood. I am also unhappy that the prior owner painted the beautiful cherry cabinets cream and her crew did not prime the wood well, so they either need to be repainted or refaced. Which is what we are pricing out now.
Here in the Boston area we have a shortage of homes available. They sell within days of being placed on the marker and generally sell for over asking price as bidding wars break out. The economy is roaring right now and everyone has money to spend and money is extremely cheap. So here it would make no difference what you really did to the home. It would sell fast!
Real estate is a local thing and might not be as crazy in your area. I wont repeat the great advice you have gotten so far.
Best of luck.
Haha, I was the one home when the Amazon box of hinges arrived - holy cow, that was heavy! I am torn on painting the cabinets, but something has to be done since the stain is very faded on those that get lots of sunlight and it’s chipped in a lot of places. Painting seems to be the popular choice - they sand, prime, then paint so hopefully they will turn out OK. It should be a crime to paint cherry cabinets, @BunsenBurner .
We fortunately don’t have a lot of brass, but we have some. The door hinges are not shiny…at all…but the knobs are. Our breakfast room light has some brass trim, as does the very expensive and nice foyer light. I’m thinking…they will get painted…not replaced.
Oddly, our bathroom lights are all what is being shown now…good…and not brass. The rest of our lights are recessed.
We sold our house here in Arizona 4 months ago. We spent about 4-5 months prepping it for sale. I think that what is considered desirable or popular in a home can vary a lot based on what part of the country you’re in. Around here, for example, tile flooring is much more desirable than wood floors.
Sometimes, it seemed like our huge list of “to do’s” would never end. But it eventually did! Our fix-it’s & renovations included the following:
- replaced the carpeting - carpets were the original carpets from when the house had been built ~ 13 yr prior, so they looked terrible. This was money well spent. We got a good deal at Home Depot with free installation.
- decluttered
- had a huge garage sale to pare down our stuff. Then used the garage sale $$ to have a junk hauler haul away the junk that didn't sell.
- fixed up the yard. This mostly involved trimming all of the bushes & trees. Some of them were starting to look overgrown.
- backyard had a pool, so we had the pool decking refinished. That was expensive because it was labor intensive
- removed ALL of our own personality from the home. NO personal photographs!
- bought brand spanking new towels and put those out when the house went on the market. Don't use the new towels!
- followed all of the realtor's advice on how to stage the house. Realtor said that the rooms will look larger in photos if there's at least something in each room so you can get a sense of perspective.
- removed some furniture from some rooms & stored it in the garage.
- ~ a year prior, we'd installed one of those Nest thermostat things. All of the buyers loved that.
- cleaned up the front yard so there was curb appeal
- repainted the mailbox
- repainted every room in the house
- repainted all of the baseboards
- did a thorough deep clean of the house before it went on the market. Do that yourself or pay somebody to do it. Money well spent.
- if you're including the fridge in the house sale, clean the inside of the fridge & the freezer
- the front door lock was a little wonky, so we had a locksmith come out and fix it
- cleaned every single light fixture both inside and outside the house
The decluttering and repainting took the most time because my husband dragged his feet a lot and he was resisting having to go through 13 yr of stuff. But it was so helpful that we did it. It made moving out a lot easier.
I also think it’s a good idea for you to stand across the street from your house and look at it with a critical eye. Pretend like you are a potential buyer…what would you be thinking of this house if this was the first time you saw it? Are there certain things that seem “off”? Or certain things that look run down or look like they need repair? Then address those. The average buyer decides whether or not to buy the house within the first minute or 2 of seeing the place.
We talked with a realtor about things that we could do and fix to help with the sale of our house. She was excellent! We did some, but not all, of her suggestions. She even had a crew of some workers she used and got us a much better price, and handled all the coordination of the job (it was re-tiling an entrance hall, and replacing a shower). I feel so lucky that we had such a great agent for our area. Her group also did free staging so that was taken care of too.
Look around and find yourself a good agent!