When buying or selling investment property, every dollar spent makes a difference on the profit and loss statement. The main question to ask about any proposed expenditure is, “Will this expenditure produce more revenue than I spend?” In the case of furnishing a property with display furniture, the answer will almost always be “yes.”
What Buyers Want
Property investors think differently than residential home buyers. When we look at a property, we think about how much revenue the building will create for us if we decide to purchase it. If we are in the business long enough, we can forget altogether that most people buying homes are looking for a great place to live for the next 20 or more years so they need to see first hand how the property can be set up and most importantly we need to make them feel great about the idea of living there. Lets face it an emotional home buyer will 9 times out of 10 pay more for a property when there is no further potential to add value to it. So we must focus the sale on appealing to a home buyer.
Home Buyers Have No Imagination
I don’t want to offend anyone by saying this, but most buyers have no imagination when they are looking at a home. When an agent shows an empty home, they often lead the buyer through and describe what it would look like with furniture in it. They can walk through the family room and describe what it would look like with a plush leather sofa, a wide screen TV and some overstuffed chairs, but only a small percentage of buyers will be able to actually imagine what the agent wants them to imagine.
The rest will have neutral reactions at best or wonder if the agent is just saying what he thinks they want to hear to sell them a house.
Contrast this to what happens when a buyer is taken through a home that is furnished with display furniture. They walk into a house that feels like a home. They don’t have to be told how beautiful the master bedroom would be with a queen bed, bedside furniture and expensive linen, complete with plush pillows. They don’t need to be told how great the family room would look with attractive chairs and sofas.
When a buyer walks through a home that is furnished with display furniture, it is a totally different experience. The buyer isn’t left to an imagination that they may or may not have because the results are right in front of them—a beautiful home that would be a great place to live in and raise a family.
Leaving a home unfurnished when selling creates too many variables. It forces the agent to be adept at stimulating the buyer’s imagination. The buyer must then be able to visualise what an empty home would look like if it was furnished. Only a small percentage of the population is capable of visualising what an empty home would look like full of furniture.
But is Display Furniture Cost-Effective?
Display furniture hire can be costly. In Perth, it can cost from $2,500 on the low end to $6,000 on the high end to furnish a 3×2 or 4×2 home with display furniture for one month, with the second month available at a reduced rate. The obvious question is: “Is display furniture worth the money I will spend?”
In our experience, the answer is a resounding “Yes.” Nearly every client who has followed our sales and marketing strategy and used display furniture has sold their property within three weeks for a premium price for their property type. When in doubt, always trust the results.
Jarrad Mahon is the Director of Sales, Strategy and Property Management at Investors Edge Real Estate, located in Perth. He specialises in helping clients maximise returns from their Perth properties. For more information, call 1300 472 427 or visit their website: https://www.investorsedge.com.au/.