Vacant home with staged kitchen/breakfast room.

You are better off selling your home while you still live in it.  Yes it’s harder to live in your home and keep it clean and ready to show at a moments notice, but think of the alternative.  A vacant home is uninviting, boring, and cold.  A vacant home only draws more attention to its flaws.  A vacant home garners a lower sale price because of it’s appearance and the buyer thinks the seller may be desperate.

Of course, sometimes you have to sell your home once it is vacant.    When this happens what do you do?  You do your best to make it look like someone still lives there.

The cheapest option is to leave as much of your furniture and decorations behind.  Maybe it’s worth sleeping on an air mattress and eating while sitting on the floor at your new home for a while to make your old home move more quickly and for a better price.

If leaving your furniture is not an option, then you really should hire a professional to stage your home.  It won’t make it look like someone lives there, but it will provide a freshness and style that makes your home more inviting.  Staging gives the potential buyer an idea of where furniture could be placed and distracts they buyer’s eye from minor flaws.

Ultimately, you want to make your home as inviting as possible.  And if it has to be vacant, spending a little extra to keep the home looking fresh will most likely pay you back at closing.

Want to know more about staging your home?  Check out Elisabeth Lugar’s blog.