CSK
LIF Adolescent
Member since 9/11 892 total posts
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Re: Home selling question
Posted by jlm2008
As everybody else has said, it's totally fine. I'm looking to buy myself and that wouldn't bother me at all. Just declutter and clean!!!! Those are huge turnoffs for me...left a few open houses because they were so cluttered with kids junk all over every surface. I also have left places needing to shower thy were so dirty!
I generally agree with this, however, it really depends on how the rooms look when you're done.
And honestly, the reason the "experts" say to stage a home is because people can't consciously look past things. Some people say they can, but subconsciously they're not.
So the kids rooms are painted electric green and are teaming with toys... ohh kids rooms are like that, all the toys will be gone when the new person moves in, they're one coat of paint away from a normal room.... it still subconsciously is sending signals of messy house, not nice house, this is a small kids room. which might be fine if it is a small kids room and the person has kids... but to the rest of the people shopping it would be a turnoff.
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Re: Home selling question
Honestly, I think it depends.
In this market, having a bedroom used as a playroom is likely not going to prevent a sale, especially if you live in a desirable area where inventory is low.
HOWEVER - a 3 bedroom, 1 bath house isn't all that big. It's not like a 4/5 bedroom house where you can still have 3 bedrooms and then use a spare for an office or playroom or work out room. Most people NEED and want 3 bedrooms, and will want to know that the rooms are suitable to be bedrooms.
If it's a large spacious room with a nice sized closet, and the playroom is kept neat, then it's likely fine to be kept as is. And truthfully, I'd rather see toys in a contained space (playroom or basement) then in the main living space.
But if the bedroom is small, then people may have trouble envisioning how it could be set up as a bedroom, whether all of the furniture would fit, etc. Small bedrooms are one of those things that I have seen buyers walk away from a home over, given that it really can't be changed. It often does make a difference to have a traditional bedroom set up in a room that's on the smaller side, so buyers can rest assured that you can in fact fit a bed, a dresser, etc. and make it work.
For example, I once had a 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath listing that was an old 1920s colonial. The third bedroom was super small, and the couple who lived there had no children, so they used the third bedroom as a walk-in closet. It was a great idea that worked for them, but was likely not going to appeal to most buyers. So I had them clear out the racks of clothes and put in a bed and small dresser. Small as it was, people could see that it was a viable bedroom (for a child's room or nursery, a guest room).
I wouldn't invest a ton of money into "staging a room" for this sized house. But if you have bedroom furniture that you can stick in there for the showings, and a place to put the toys (i.e., basement), or you can start packing them, I would probably say to do it.
Another reason to consider packing up toys is that they can really be an attractive nuisance. When buyers come in with kids, they sometimes get sidetracked by big displays of toys, and want to play with things, and sellers -- understandably - get grossed out by strange kids touching their kids toys and things. But it can be uncomfortable for the seller or agent to have to ask the buyer to have their kids stop (even though they should), so sometimes it's better to have things out of sight or more contained.
Again, depends on the house and the area, and hard to say definitively without seeing it.
If you have an agent, I'd ask him/her their advice. I usually err on the side of just selling as is, but sometimes a little staging or rearranging can make a huge difference, and I often bring in my interior designer friend to consult if it's a tough call or unusual space.
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