When Looking at Houses...

Did you prefer looking at a fully furnished house(with the owners stuff still there) or one that was empty (owners moved out already)

And if you bought a house-
did you buy it when it was furnished or empty?

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We did both, I liked seeing the furniture there. Gave me ideas as well as an idea of how the house would look once furnished. We also so unfurnished homes, which I also liked because you can see EVERYTHING.

For example, the house we bought the living room looked amazing furnished. It's wall to wall carpet. BUT when we did the final walk through an hour before the closing all the furniture was out and we were able to see the stains on the carpet we didn't see before, because furniture was covering it. Same thing with our upstairs. We've since recarpteted and I'm planning on doing hardwood in our living room.

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I prefer when they're empty - this way you can see the true structure of the house - walls, ceilings, floors, etc. Also you're not distracted if they have a ton of crap in there.

When we bought our house we looked at it completely empty (except for a bed in one of the bedrooms), and it stayed that way until we moved in.

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Did you prefer looking at a fully furnished house(with the owners stuff still there) or one that was empty (owners moved out already)?

Didn't matter to me. I was more interested in location/property and structural integrity of the house.


And if you bought a house-
did you buy it when it was furnished or empty?

It was furnished (not well I might add...the house was previously owned by an elderly couple.)

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I've heard that most people like to see a house furnished. they have a hard time figuring out (spacial relations) what the purpose of some rooms (particularly not clearly defined) might be w/o furniture.

At the same time there shouldn't be too much furniture, a lot of clutter or items that distract from the characteristics of the house they want the potential buyer to notice.

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Of course an empty house could mean that they already moved and need to sell quick, which can work in your favor too.

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I like furniture in the bedroom, so I can gauge whether or not I could get a King sized bed in there and have room for anything else.

In the other rooms, it doesn't really matter to me either way, but if there are wood floors, I prefer to see the room empty to see the condition of the floors.

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Personally unless it is very nicely decorated, I would prefer that it didnt have furniture. I consider myself very good at being able to judge the size of a room without furniture though. Rooms tend to look smaller when they are empty.

I find if a house is poorly decorated it can distract me a little bit. Overall it wouldnt make or break my decision because i think i can get a good vision of what i will do to the house....

The house that we bought was empty when we looked at it.

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I prefer it empty...the furnished ones looked cluttered. And we bought empty.

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psychologically speaking a nicely decorated house can "add value" while a poorly decorated one can "decrease value". i am better than DH in being able to see through the clutter and poor spatial relation as far as furniture is concerned (oversized furniture in a small space), but sometimes your mind can play tricks on you...

our place was furnished, but barely. my mother stated the owners would have been better off and would have potentially gotten more $$$ if they showed the house minus the furniture.

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We looked at both. I actually liked it better when they were empty. We bought our furnished with the people still living in it. They were slobs!

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Ours was furnished - but since it was an estate sale, it really didnt have that lived in feeling. Upstairs there was no furniture at all.

When we went in for the walk through, the house was completely empty.

Scott

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I think it's easier to see the house with nothing in it. The one we bought had stuff in it though when we looked.
When we did the walkthrough we saw how dirty things where without the furniture hiding it.

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We saw many different houses, some where vacant and others people still lived in. I prefer to see an empty house. To me, its easier to see the open space, there is more for me to imagine. The house we just bought was vacant.

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We have seen both. I like to see the bedrooms furnished, the rest of the house I don't have a preference.

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Have seen both and I don't really have a preference (as far as that goes). I preferred a house that was clean and uncluttered

The house we're buying is furnished.

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I like to see houses with furniture, so I can get a better idea of the size of the room and what types and sizes of furniture can fit in the room.
When seeing empty houses I always got the impression that it was bigger than it really was.

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Did you prefer looking at a fully furnished house(with the owners stuff still there) or one that was empty (owners moved out already)?

We have looked at both... It is nice to "see" things already there to give an idea - visualize what we wanted to put where.

And if you bought a house-
did you buy it when it was furnished or empty?

Our 1st home the house was full of junk from the previous owner... 2nd (current house) when we looked at it had the owners furniture, when we moved in it was empty.

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I have done both, personally I like to see them when they are furnished because it shows you how much room you will have once there is furniture. Rooms obviously look much bigger unfurnished. JMO

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I like seeing them with some stuff.. a bed in the bedroom, a couch, a table.

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I liked it when it was empty. Looked cleaner and not cluttered like some houses that we saw.

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I was just thinking about this today..

I like when the house is empty bc I like to see it bare bones...also, it is kinda awkward for me, anyway, to be walking through someone else's life practically...

the one thing about houses still being lived in is that you can see where they put their furniture and how they decorated.

When we bought ours it was completely empty and seemed huge!

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I liked when there was furniture because it helped us gauge how much we could fit in a room. When it's empty, it just looks bigger and be deceiving. You just have to try and have an open mind and imagine it with your things/colors.