To sell furnished or unfurnished?

pac-man

Hi there,

DH and I are both fairly headstrong people and we're having a debate at the momment where we both think we're right. In the interests of domestic peace I thought I'd put the question to the experts.....YOU!

We're in the process of relocating with hubby's work and have a good package with his company. If we're unable to sell our house to move within 3 months, they will buy it off us at 95% of the SURVEYED value, in this day and age I understand that the surveyed value can be a reasonable ammount below the market value.

Anyway, that sets the scene. The question is which of the following should we do to realise the highest potential sale value in the 3 months we have to sell it privately?

1) Put the house on the market now, after a de-clutter so that it's furnished (means we need to pay for a couple of months storage).

2) Move straight up there from our home into rented (which we will do when we move anyway) and put the house in the market in Jan Unfurnished.

As a buyer, which do you prefer? Let the debate commence. I haven't said which option I prefer as don't want to influence you.

kirwell81

Personally I think it helps to have some furniture in a property so potential buyers can get a real idea of room size i.e if you are able to leave a double bed in the bedrooms, dining table, couple of sofas etc.

missile

I am guessing you did not really mean "To sell furnished or unfurnished?" but present house for sale furnished? You will get buttons for the furniture if you sell with the house.

I would always present a house for sale furnished, if I could.

PS: I don't agree with your comment about survey and market value.

pac-man

missile wrote: »

PS: I don't agree with your comment about survey and market value.

My comment about market value and surveyed value is based on experience of friends in the area who have had to back out of property purchases as the surveyed value was less than the amount they needed for the mortgage. I realise this is not the case in every sale at the momment, but for them it was £10,000 difference or so.

In answer to previous question, I do mean present for sale....we want to hang on to our furniture (well some of it anyway!)

Thanks for replies.

PasturesNew

Furnished, I think, presents/sells better.... which is why there's a thriving business in renting furniture for show homes.

If houses sold better/faster unfurnished then new build developers wouldn't bother.

zzzLazyDaisy

I would declutter, and get rid of/store everything apart from essentials - suite, bed, and so on - and the small touches to make the place look nice (cushions, table for flowers, etc). So that the house looks airy, spacious, and inviting.

Alternatively, you could move into rented taking your stuff with you, and furnish the house with any bits you can afford to leave behind for the moment, and get the rest from freecycle.

It all depends how quickly you want to move. Whatever you do, I would have thought that the chances of getting a confirmed sale within three months, in the current climate are low - especially over the christmas period, but of course you may be lucky.

pac-man

Thanks for your replies. This is what I thought. DH is not keen to put in too much effort into getting the house ready for sale and maintaining it. He's probably thinking i'm going to keep nagging him to pick his dirty pants up off the bathroom floor and that he might be asked to help cart some stuff to the storage place . He's also thinking as it's me who will decorate the house prior to selling and that as he's not bothered and won't help that I'll get stressed (probably true).

We're both untidy, but I notice it and he doesn't. Not unusual I understand. Cheers for that.