Furnished vs. Unfurnished Sale

With a glut of distress sales having flooded the market, even in the luxury sector, making selling even non-distress real estate a highly competitive and often disheartening endeavor, any competitive edge a seller can garner can mean the difference between closing escrow on a property or it languishing on the MLS in perpetuity.

One such competitive edge not commonly considered as part of a home’s marketing strategy is to sell a property either fully or partially furnished. Consider these findings on sold furnished Las Vegas-area residences: for 2008 YTD 16% of homes $1 million-plus and 20% of homes $2 million-plus were successfully sold fully or partially furnished. When compared to YTD sales data for unfurnished residences, these numbers represent a 10% increase in the incidence of homes sold with contents over those without. In 2007 15.5% of homes $1 million-plus and a whopping 37.5% of homes $2 million-plus were successfully sold fully or partially furnished.

While bundling furnishings with a home sell is a viable strategy, sellers should not force a home’s contents onto prospective buyers, which can work against them. Instead, give buyers the option to procure the property with or without furnishings, and have a pre-established sale price set for either scenario. Also be prepared to put together a bill of sale for the furniture, separate from the home’s sale price.

In a marketplace where lenders have tightened their proverbial belts, forcing many home buyers to come to the closing table with more cash, a partially furnished or fully turn-key home can be a very attractive proposition”¦and the all important deciding factor in choosing one property over another.

This post was found on FSBO.FizBer.com
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