235 Evans Drive – Peterborough, Ontario

235 Evans Drive came to us completely empty. Lovely home, good bones, great layout but nothing in it, and nothing to make a buyer online stop scrolling.

We staged the whole house in one day. By the end of the first week on the market, we had an offer.

What We Were Up Against

Empty houses are tough. Rooms look smaller than they are, buyers can’t tell if their couch will fit, and every scuff on the wall suddenly becomes the main feature. Because there’s literally nothing else to look at.

This listing had three things working against it.

It was vacant. No furniture means no sense of how you’d actually live there, and empty rooms photograph cold.

It had carpet. A lot of buyers want hard flooring, and in an empty room, carpet is the first thing they see.

The outside needed some love. The driveway and the garden weren’t doing the house any favors, and that’s the first photo people see online and the first thing they see pulling up.

None of it was a dealbreaker whatsoever! But ignore all three and you’re looking at more time on market and a weaker offer.

What We Did

Staged in a Day

We do our staging in house, so there was no waiting on a stager’s calendar. The whole team showed up and had Evans Drive done top to bottom in one day.

That matters when a house is sitting empty. The sooner it’s on the market, the sooner the seller stops paying to keep it.

Working Around the Carpet

Good staging tells buyers where to look. With carpet in the house, we wanted eyes anywhere but the floor. Rugs, furniture placement, lighting and decor all pointed people toward what the house does well: the open layout, the natural light and the space.

Cleaning Up the Outside

The exterior photo is usually the one that decides whether someone clicks on a listing. So we blew off the driveway and got it looking sharp, then cleaned up the garden and pulled the weeds.

Cheap, quick jobs. But a tidy yard tells buyers the house has been looked after before they ever walk in.

The Price

Staging gets people through the door. Price is what gets them to make an offer.

We priced Evans Drive aggressively, no testing the market high and hoping someone bites. The first week is when a listing gets the most attention, so we wanted it priced to compete from day one.

With a vacant house, there’s extra reason to get it right. The seller is covering taxes, utilities and insurance on a place nobody lives in. Price it right and the wait is shorter. Price it high and you end up chasing the market down with reductions.

How It Went

We had an offer in the first week.

That deal didn’t end up coming together, which happens. Not every first offer turns into a sale. But it told us what we needed to know. Buyers were interested, the house was showing well, and the price was right. Our sellers moved forward knowing the work was done and the market was paying attention.

Why We Liked This One

Honestly, this is our kind of listing. A vacant house is where doing everything in house really pays off. Staging, prep work and a clear pricing plan, all from one team.

It’s also pretty typical of how we work… we don’t put up a sign and wait for the phone to ring. We fix what buyers would pick apart, and we launch the house ready to go. And when a deal falls apart, we don’t disappear. We keep going with our sellers and continue to push through.

If You’re Selling a Vacant House

A few things Evans Drive reminded us of:

• Empty doesn’t have to mean slow, staging gives buyers something to picture.
• Staging can hide a weakness so you can put the focus on what’s good and buyers notice it.
• Small outside fixes go a long way; a clean driveway and a weeded garden cost close to nothing.
• Price it to compete early, because the first week is when you get the most eyes.
• An early offer means you got it right, even if that particular deal doesn’t close!

Selling an empty or inherited home? We handle the decluttering, repairs, staging, photos and floor plans in house, so you deal with one team for all of it.