A house that had been sat on the market for two years with no offers was sold in just six days thanks to a clever trick. A man, who was selling his bungalow in Devon, was ‘pulling his hair out’ after his property was attracting no interest from prospective buyers.
His home, which was on the market for £449,950, was viewed on multiple occasions but nobody put in an offer – that is until a property expert used her clever method and it received three offers immediately.
After being hired by the man to help sell his home, Liv Conlon, 25, who runs ThePropertyStagers knew straight away what the problem was – the house was empty. So, she and her team got to work ‘staging’ it by filling it with furniture and accessories to showcase how each room could be used.
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In just four hours, they transformed the house by adding in a dining area with a stylish glass table and matching chairs and a fluffy rug. They added a comfy navy sofa in the living room, a glass coffee table on top of a mustard-coloured rug and added details to the room with modern artwork, magazines and plants.
Beds were also placed in the bedrooms along with bedside tables and lamps, and just like that, the house received three offers, reports the Mirror.
Sharing her secret to staging a home, Liv said: “There’s no television in the living room, there are no wardrobes in the bedrooms and what’s key is that there is no clutter. Instead, everything is placed to perfection. We use our expertise to make the most of the space and create a ‘flow’ around the home to highlight particular features.”
The owner hired Liv and her award-winning company for six weeks at a cost of £2,497+VAT. But the property received three offers straight away and sold in just six days – at the asking price.
She commented: “It sold so quickly once we had got our hands on it and staged it because a furnished room looks bigger than an empty room. People can’t envisage how they are going to live in a property when it’s empty, so we furnish it to make the most of the space, highlight key features and show potential buyers what their life in the house could look like.”
Liv, who says the trick is the same idea as using a showhome on an estate of new houses, reveals it’s possible for people to do it themselves without hiring an expert.
She recommends sticking to her top tips for selling a home including decluttering and removing as many personal items as possible, mood lighting, using mirrors to add depth, maximising natural light by keeping blinds and curtains open, creating a welcoming atmosphere with a candle or flowers and maintaining a tidy exterior.
“Keep colours as neutral as possible on walls and large items of furniture then build colour, texture and pattern through accents like soft furnishings and artwork,” she advises.