Will Dated Furniture Hinder The Sale of Your Home?
A common practice for homeowners with vacant properties is to utilize furniture that they have hanging around. They make the assumption, and with reason, that something in the room is better than leaving it vacant. And while most buyers benefit from seeing furniture placed in a room, dated furniture has its drawbacks. Here are just a few:
- The dated furniture can, and does, nine times out of ten, date your home
- Dated furniture will NOT appeal to a broad base of prospective buyers. In fact, your home will likely be a turn-off to the young buyers
- Buyers viewing your home on the internet are likely to pass
Case in point - while on my way to de-stage a home in Grant Park last week, I received a call from a prospect that was relatively close by to where I was de-staging. She asked if I could come over to see her home which has been on the market for 6 months. Armed with only my cell phone to take pictures, I snapped the two before pictures below. I apologize for the poor quality. While the iphone 4 is incredible, the camera, well... not so much (smile).
Eat-in Kitchen before being professionally home staged:
After Picture:
Master Bedroom before being professionally home staged:
Master Bedroom After Home Staging:
As you can see in the before and after pictures, there's a huge difference in the look and feel of the home. The up-to-date furniture combined with new accessories, help achieve a look that's fresh and appealing.
For all your home staging needs in and around Atlanta, contact Kathy Nielsen at 678 522 8392.
We understand what it takes to help sell a home quickly!
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A Real Estate Staging Association Finalist for Professional Stager of the Year 2010, Kathy Nielsen understands what it takes to help sell homes quickly. Considered an expert within the home staging industry, and having years of experience, Kathy makes the perfect choice for preparing your home for the market in the Atlanta area.
Website: Home Staging Atlanta
Before and After Pictures: Atlanta Home Staging Portfolio:
Email: Kathy@HomeStagingAtlanta.com
Staging truly does help make the sale. I work with a lot of young couples and they really have a hard time getting past dated furniture and decor.
Kathy - Professional staging can make a huge difference, and the photos answer your question--without question.
WOW!
Kathy- what an amazing transformation and a smart lesson for sellers. It's hard for buyers to get past furniture and accessories that scream "old" and see themselves living there. The new dining area will appeal to all buyers now.
Dated furniture definitely hinders the sale in my opinion. There is a feeling you get when you walk into a home and the furnishings are the main thing driving that feeling. Feeling like you are in Grandma's house usually isn't the feeling that will bring an offer. You did a great job.
Great point and it's so true. It's unfortunate for the sellers who just can't afford to update their furniture or rent up-to-date things. They are forced to work with what they have.
Great updates, Kathy! I'm working on a condo that will have new paint, flooring and kitchen appliances and granite counters. With these investments, there is little $$$ left over for furniture rental. So we're slipcovering the floral sofa, using the antiques, and they're renting updated accessories, art, bedding, lighting, occasional table from me. Hopefully the mix of antiques and modern will work. Julie
WaLa! Transformed to luxury!! Beautiful-your photos tell the story prefectly!
Kathy -- what a perfect illustration of professional home staging at its best! The "before" photos could make a buyer assume that the house is stodgy and dated and might need some work; the "after" photos convey to a buyer that this home is move-in ready. Although staging is never about the furniture, having updated pieces is very helpful.
You bet! Staging invokes a feeling and if you feel like you are in Grandma's house, then you have lost the prospective buyer. This is one of the hardest areas to get across to sellers. They think their furniture is "ok" and is often a harder sell than a vacant staging. That is why consultations are so important. Great pics Kathy ;)
OK, let me disagree with you a little bit.
It always best to bring in very high end furniture. Always looks best with no scratches, dents and lived in look.
99% of the time I work with what the seller has and supplement it with my own items It keeps the costs down for the owner. All of my staging jobs sell within a few weeks.
If the house is vacant or the furniture is really bad then yes we use my furniture. I've never had to use rental.
Quality photos really make a difference.
Kathy: Wow, what a difference! I would think the before pictures were on the inside of a log cabin from the 1800's - just kidding but your fixes are just beautiful. The furniture is modern but not so much so that someone with more traditional tastes couldn't envision their own style in the house.
Kathy, what a wonderful improvement! If it's in the seller's budget, they should try to rent or borrow something more modern.
When buyers walk into a home, they sometimes ask themselves, "Does it [the space] look new?" They want fresh and pristine, not old and dusty. The antiques were really distracting.
And I think I will use my cell phone for the "before" pics from now on! :-D
This looks great Kathy! As others have mentioned I too find in many cases it comes down to budget and often times have to work with what the owner has, ideally I would love to have them rent or borrow furniture from a friend that is more appropriate. In many cases much of the furniture is removed as to not distract from the home itself and using only a few pieces of the "less than ideal" furniture can work.
You make a great example in your master bedroom photo, even just the updated bedding and a new nightstand and modern lamp would be a huge improvement to the "old" bed had they not been able to afford the rental pieces. That coupled with amazing photos doesn't have to break the bank.
Thank you for sharing!
As usual you made all the difference Kathy! That Grandma look really narrows your home's appeal.
Kathy - You're the Master!! Your pic says it all. Beautiful and inviting.
Great point Kathy. Dated furniture can be as distracting as dated finishes and colors in a home. I've had good results using updated furniture even with dated decor so I know what a difference it can make!
Amazing what a difference some updated furniture makes. A completely different look and feel. Great pics and work Kathy!
Kathy - the old furniture just looks tired. The new furniture looks bright and perky. These are great examples of why it's a good idea to change up furniture for a more current look.
The transformation is outstanding Kathy -- what a difference! Now the trick I am finding is getting the photos updated on many of the sites! MLS, thankfully, is easy to update,
Excellent post addressing a common challenge when selling. Your photos speak for themselves. What a transformation the current furniture and accessories have given to the home/space.
Kathy: Great post about how dated furniture can hurt the sale of your home. Some home sellers and real estate agents have the mistaken idea that a sofa is a sofa is a sofa. They're all sofas, but some add to the appeal of a home, and some will definitely detract from a home.
Great point...these are truely before and after photos that you can show the client to help them make the decision to use updated furniture and accessories
It's amazing how you try to get through to sellers that dated furniture will date the home. What a great illustration. You do amazing work.
Great post! Selling a home is a challenging proposition! Staging does work!
Thanks for sharing,
Adam
Kathy, you are so right. The dated furniture will turn off the young buyers. And on the reverse side, the updates won't turn off the mature buyers (although they might not appreciate them as much).
Great post Kathy! It is so true that a home with dated furniture just makes the home look dated and non-appealing to buyers. It is amazing how important this perception is when selling a home. The power of selecting the right furniture can make the sale happen quickly vs. the home stay on the market for a long time.
Your pictures look great - you really showcase the difference of impressions so nicely. Very will done!
Kathy, that is like night and day. The buyer you will attract online with the staged photos will put this home on their must see list for sure.
Buyers want to see what they see in the stores currently. If they didn't, we would still see oak and pine furniture in every storefront window. We would only need to reread our decor magazines from 1970 or 1980.
This is a modern updated home that any young family would be happy to move in to.
I recently had a client that wanted to mix her grandmothers furniture in a vacant 700K house with mine. Let's just say a orange victorian sofa is only appealing to a very small number of people....enough said!
Kathy,
When it comes to staging its always best to appeal to the most potential buyers as possible in order to get the house sold. I prefer to use the most updated furniture because I know the connection it makes with the buyers. I wish it was always possible for homeowners to fit that into their budget. Fabulous Staging as always!!!