If you are moving out of your house ahead of listing it for sale, you may be faced with the necessity of renting furniture with which to stage it. It will cross your mind, we hope for a moment only, that you could leave the house totally vacant. This is not a good option. Believe it or not, a totally empty room confuses buyers. First, they are surrounded by bare walls and the echoes that come along with them. Your best bet is to look into furniture hire. Sydney has lots of furniture rental options, so you’ll find excellent solutions to the empty house problem.

Human beings have a visceral reaction to a totally empty room. They have no way to imagine where their own furnishings would be placed, and without something to use for comparison, they lose sight of how large the room really is. Hence, the totally empty room can give the buyer an upside-down impression of size, leaving them with a sense of unease. (The last feeling you want to inspire in a buyer is doubt. Your goal is a feeling of welcome and comfort.)

If you’ve been very wise, you’ve contracted with a home staging company that offers furniture hire as part of its property styling package. In this case, you can scratch worrying over furniture hire off your list. If you plan to stage your home on your own, you need to find a reputable furniture rental option. (Ask your selling agent for recommendations.)

Before you sign on the dotted line, here are a few key points to discuss:

1. Does the rental company offer staging as a service?
2. Precisely how many days or weeks will the rental package cover?
3. Is there a penalty if your house sells faster than expected? (We all hope for this particular problem.)
4. Are you assured that you will get the furnishings you’ve chosen? Sometimes with these companies you can find yourself with whatever is left over in the showroom. This is not an optimal situation.
5. What about art and décor? Are rugs included?
6. Is there a clause in the contract that protects you against damage to your home by the company’s installers? (Holes in walls and scratches on your hardwood floors will cost you in the sale, so make sure you won’t have to take that loss.)

Look for companies that offer a design service along with the furniture hire. Sydney buyers are pretty savvy. They want well-curated rooms that are pleasing in scale and in style. You want the same things, as a poorly designed furniture grouping can be awkward and off-putting to buyers. Get and implement all the design advice you can so that you can avoid badly joined room appointments.

Even cheap furnishings can look okay in a room if they are chosen to fit together in style, shape, colour, and scale. It’s certainly possible to find garage-sale pieces and things other people have thrown away to help you stage your house if you have the time and inclination to spend cleaning and refurbishing it.

Over all, the most important thing to remember when it comes to selling your real estate is that the more you can do to emphasise your home’s good points, the better. Since properly done staging can make the difference between a quick sale and one that takes months to accomplish, staging and furniture rental are decisions worth careful consideration.

Statistics show us that well- staged homes sell much faster than others. Each day your house remains on the market represents a hit to your finances. Whether it’s ongoing mortgage payments and interest, or the cost to keep the lawn mown and insurance premiums paid, time IS money in the real estate game.

When you’re ready to have your home prepared for presentation alone or with the help of an experienced professional, remember that you’re dealing with a very big transaction. It deserves the extra care a professional home stylist who is versed in the best practices of furniture hire Sydney has to offer. Just as your mother used to tell you, “A job worth doing is worth doing well.”