Selling house - furnished or unfurnished better?

kazo

Hi
I will soon be in the position of having to try and sell a deceased relative's small 2 bed flat which now belongs to me. It is fully furnished - items in pretty good condition but not that modern or fashionable thesedays probably. Includes a newish fridge and washing machine, venetian blinds and everything else really. Logistically because of distances involved it would be easier not to have to try and clear out everything, just a few bits and pieces we want to keep in the family. Would this be a put off for buyers these days do you think - would it be better to try and clear out as much as possible - would most folk want a 'clean slate' to work with?

1399steve

I think it very much depends on the buyers. FTB might see this as a positive if they don't already have much furniture of their own. If someone is moving who already has everything then they'll probably want you to shift it prior to completion.

I'd just put it on the market, wait for an offer and see what your buyers want

Cannon_Fodder

For presentation purposes, its always useful to have furniture that easily demonstrates the purpose of the room - especially that you can fit a double-bed into a bedroom for example...

But, there should be no clutter. Get some throws to go over any shabby sofas etc..

Some people stuggle to look through other people's clutter to see the space available. With so many people eliminating properties at a glance on Rightmove, the photos will need to entice people to want to make the trip to view- which means clutter-free, obvious layout etc.

Make the best of whatever, however few, pluses the property has...

poppysarah

Declutter and neutralise.
furniture better than none unless it's rotten.

Doozergirl

It really depends. If the house was newly decorated or if it really doesn't need any work doing at all then I'd say that it probably needs furniture.

If the place in general could do with a bit of updating then your target market are people with vision and therefore probably won't need furniture to help them visualise.

Hopejack

Hmmm you see I disagree, if a place has been decorated i.e. neutral walls which brings it up to date but still has 'dated' furniture in it then I think it will look odd.

I personally see my own furniture in a place when I see it esp if it's empty but appreciate some just don't have that vision and need to see a bed etc in a room...

Ask an agent's pov - I asked recently about our place we are wanting to sell early next year and tbh they said it didn't matter but only if the furnishings were up to date and 'went' with the decor etc. If no-one was living in it but I was going to furnish it with dated stuff they told me not to bother??

ukmaggie45

We found it useful having some furniture present when viewing the house we hope to exchange on later this week.

We could easily see there were two single beds in bedroom 2, so we knew that it would take a double bed. OK, we could have found that out by measuring, but on a first view there isn't usually time to measure, especially when accompanied by EA who will have other places to be as well.

Also it helped seeing the 3 piece suite in the living room, does kind of stick in the memory better when you get home afterwards and try and decide whether to pursue a house or not.

(this was also someone selling a deceased relative's house)

Good luck!

Maggie

kazo

Thanks for all replies - given me some things to think about. Will definitely need to declutter - hadn't really considered this before never having bought a house myself but now thinking minimalise , tidy, rearrange a bit then see how things look. Both decor and furniture pretty dated but not too shabby. Ta all.

JamesBlue_3

kazo wrote: »

Hi
I will soon be in the position of having to try and sell a deceased relative's small 2 bed flat which now belongs to me. It is fully furnished - items in pretty good condition but not that modern or fashionable thesedays probably. Includes a newish fridge and washing machine, venetian blinds and everything else really. Logistically because of distances involved it would be easier not to have to try and clear out everything, just a few bits and pieces we want to keep in the family. Would this be a put off for buyers these days do you think - would it be better to try and clear out as much as possible - would most folk want a 'clean slate' to work with?

Hi Kazo,

To point out; CannonFodder said that furniture is a good idea from the point of view that a potential buyer will be able to see exactly what the room should be used for - an example being a double bed etc - these are good points as they will answer questions.

On the flipside; I also believe that having furniture could be detrimental, if the furniture is of a retro design or cupboards / furniture are ordained with patterns, swirls or weird hippy designs - people like to see plain, minimalistic rooms, this can fuel their imagination and allow future buyers appreciate what the rooms can offer them.

With this said - I am sure that if you use a little common sense - what I mean is; put yourself in the shoes of the people who may purchase your flat, think how they think - imagine what you would expect to see or what you would look for if you were to purchase a property such as this...

Good Luck, James :rolleyes:

Kyrae

We had to sell a deceased relatives house and left all the furniture in, just took out most the clutter and left in a few ornaments and plants etc on shelves so they didn't look too bare. We had an offer within a week and asked for 2k more, and the buyer agreed on the condition that we left the furniture and appliances inc fridge oven etc as he was a first time buyer and didn't have any of his own. All the furniture was well out of date and old fashioned, but it shows that some people don't mind viewing furnished places and you might even be able to get rid of the furniture with the house, saving you the hassle of having to empty it!