Sell Furnished or Unfurnished: Is That The Question?
Should you sell your Pelican Bay home furnished, turnkey furnished or unfurnished? What is the difference between these terms? Will selling your home furnished help you sell your home faster?
The Naples Association of Realtors® allows Realtors® to search the Multiple Listing Service for listings that might meet their clients needs with certain search fields. When an agent takes a listing, they will enter the listing into the MLS and fill out required fields. One of these fields is called FURNISHED.
An agent, who is marketing a home, has a choice to enter in the FURNISHED field one of the following terms:
- Furnished – All furniture stays with the house
- Partly Furnished – Only some furniture stays with the house
- Unfurnished – No furniture stays with the house
- Turnkey – All furniture and furnishings stay with the house
- Negotiable – Some furniture may stay, all furniture could stay, everything could stay, no furniture could stay. It will depend on the price.
If any furniture is to stay, an inventory list will be drawn up and signed by both parties.
When an agent obtains a listing, they should speak with the Seller about what term they want listed in this field because the price that is placed on the listing could include all the furnishings in the house, just furniture, some furniture or no furniture at all.
Some Buyers find it easier to make an offer and ask for the unit turnkey furnished. If the Buyer offers the right price, the Buyer will get the house and all the furnishing in it which will include all the pots, pans, linens and kick-knacks. This saves the Buyer an inordinate amount of time buying furniture and decorating the unit. The Buyer, however, will have to have the same taste as the Seller.
It has been my experience that when it comes to furniture, most Sellers over estimate the value of their furniture. Should a Seller desire to sell their furniture with their home, I would advise them to total up what they originally paid for the furniture. A rule of thumb is that most furniture is only worth about a third of what was originally paid.
The market that we are currently in is a price driven market. My advice to all Sellers is to plan on a price that you would want for the furniture. A Seller’s main focus should be on getting the home sold. My philosophy is to price a home as unfurnished. Should a Buyer asked about furniture, the Seller can have a separate price that can be given to the Buyer for the furniture, part of the furniture, or turkey furnished. Sellers, please note that if furniture is sold separately from the sale of the home, tax will have to be paid.
Will selling your home furnished help you sell your home faster? The answer is maybe. More importantly, I believe it is more important to have furniture in the home while it is being sold. Let’s take a look at the following photos:
This is a living room that is unfurnished. It has been freshly painted and has new carpeting but there is no furniture in this unit.
This unit is the exact same model with furniture.
.jpg)
This is unit is also the exact same model as the two above.
All three of these units are the exact same floor plan but look at the difference paint and furniture can make! If you are a Pelican Bay Seller who is attempting to sell a unit that has no furniture in it, you may want to consider renting some furniture while you are selling your unit. Renting furniture and staging the furniture could help your unit sell faster. In the 31 years I have been selling real estate, I have found that most Buyers have a hard time picturing how furniture can be placed in a home. When a home is void of furniture, it is less "homey" and welcoming to a Buyer. Take a moment to look at these three photos again and think about which photo in more inviting to you.
All that being said, let's take a look at some real estate statistics in Pelican Bay.
Real Estate Activity in Pelican Bay 1/1/09-7/29/09 by Building Design
| |
Active |
Pending |
Sold |
UnSold |
| Low Rises |
81 |
17 |
43 |
68 |
| Mid Rises |
23 |
1 |
4 |
26 |
| High Rises |
173 |
11 |
46 |
136 |
| Attached Villas |
16 |
0 |
15 |
14 |
| Detached Villas |
11 |
4 |
10 |
11 |
| Single Family |
4 |
7 |
11 |
30 |
Let's compare the numbers above with the last months stats:
Real Estate Activity in Pelican Bay 1/1/09-6/28/09 by Building Design
| |
Active |
Pending |
Sold |
Unsold |
| Low Rises |
92 |
19 |
34 |
47 |
| Mid Rises |
27 |
1 |
4 |
18 |
| High Rises |
191 |
11 |
40 |
95 |
| ATTACHED Villas |
14 |
3 |
13 |
13 |
| DETACHED Villas |
15 |
1 |
9 |
6 |
| Single Family |
40 |
6 |
10 |
21 |
While the number of active listings seem to be decreasing, the number of unsold listings are increasing.
Thank you for visiting my Pelican Bay Blog. If you are in town during the month of August, you may want to visit Naples Tomato and use this coupon.
Should you be thinking of selling your home in Pelican Bay and would like a candid assessment of what it would take to sell your home in today's market, I would be happy to provide you with a free market evaluation. Feel free to give me a call at 239-594-2780 or e-mail me at Lynn@NaplesBuys.com.
Would you like to own home in our unique beach community? Search here, once at the search page, you can search by development, save your search and new listing updates will be e-mailed to you.
Care to share a comment about living in Pelican Bay with us? Just click on the Add Comment link at the bottom of this blog entry. Comments are always welcome.
About the author:
Lynn Wilber is a Real Estate Professional who lives in Pelican Bay. Her 31 years of real estate experience and her area expertise have been valuable resources for Pelican Bay Sellers and Buyers. For more information, please contact Lynn Wilber or call 239-594-2780.
YouTube | Linkedin | Google | Website | Twitter | Facebook | 
RSS Blog Feed
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
