Selling an empty house is harder than you might think. You might imagine that the lack of furnishings would make it easier for potential homebuyers to picture their furniture and possessions inside the house. There’s only one problem with that–people don’t just buy houses. They buy homes. And a completely empty house, no matter how nice it is, just doesn’t look like a home.

Sometimes sellers can’t help selling empty houses. A move, divorce, death or other major event could force you to move before the house has sold. But you can avoid the empty-house pitfall by staging your home, even if you’ve already moved out.

Staging Empty Houses

A house for sale needs to be completely clean, and it needs to have furniture in it. Buyers are more comfortable with homes that look lived-in. Plus, furniture provides a reference point to give the buyer an idea of how much furniture a room can hold.

If you have the cash to afford it, consider hiring a professional home stager. They’ll bring in appropriate furniture pieces and arrange the house to be as attractive as possible. But you don’t have to be wealthy to stage an empty house. You can rent furniture for a reasonable price and put a few items in each room to make it look more like a home. Avoid bulky furniture – smaller items will make the rooms look larger.

Use the Empty House to Your Advantage

Since no one’s living there any more, you have the freedom to make the house truly showroom-ready. Give the exterior and interior of the house a fresh coat of paint in a neutral color. Hang some art on the walls. Set the dinner table for a feast, complete with table linens and attractive dinnerware. Add window treatments (curtains or blinds) to the windows to make the house look more attractive. Arrange low-maintenance potted plants in the kitchen and bathrooms. In fact, in some ways, having an empty house is an advantage when you’re preparing to sell.

Keep Up with the Empty House

All vacant houses, no matter how clean they are, begin to develop a musty smell very quickly. So don’t think you can just stage the house and leave it. Visit the house every few days until it’s sold. Walk through, open up all the windows and air out the home for a little while. You may also wish to put air fresheners in each room–some sellers don’t like to use these because the fragrance may be too strong, but in this case, it’s a good choice to keep the empty-house smell at bay.