On the market- personal pics up or no?

We have tons of pictures up in our home of us, family and DS. I am definitely taking down some to hang a more neutral painting (that I have yet to find), like over the couch in the living room and on the dining room wall/ I would like to keep up the collage style pictures that I have going up the staircase and the big one of DS over the mantle. What do previous seller/buyers think f this? I keep reading to take down personal pics but I love them!

Re: On the market- personal pics up or no?

Personal pics never bothered me when i was looking. I did scale down most of our pics when we sold but more to declutter than anything else.

Re: On the market- personal pics up or no?

We took down all personal pictures and we were only married a few months, just got some pics from our wedding, when we sold.

JMHO, but I really do think buyers have all watched enough HGTV to really want a "staged" house these days.

I know it's a pain, and while your house is on the market, it may not feel like your own w/o the personal touches, but if it means a quicker sale, then it means less time on the market and more $$$ in the end.

Re: On the market- personal pics up or no?

I did not like seeing that kind of thing when I was looking

Re: On the market- personal pics up or no?

I dont see how it would be discouraging. Obviously people live there, there's going to be evidence of that. If anything I would think it makes the house seem more "homey".

Re: On the market- personal pics up or no?

I know that HGTV says to take most personal stuff down but it never bother me.

Re: On the market- personal pics up or no?

I didn't take down any pictures off the walls, but I did de-clutter. Our house sold in 3 days.

seeing pics up at houses we looked at didn't bother me at all. The house we bought had plenty of kids pictures around. Made it feel like a great family house - for MY family.

Message edited 11/15/2011 7:55:44 PM.

Re: On the market- personal pics up or no?

I recommend taking down personal pics or really keeping them to a minimum and in private spaces like bedrooms. Two main reasons:

1. You want the buyers to envision themselves living there, not to feel like a guest in your home. Having a lot of family photos around is just a reminder that the house is someone ELSE's home and can make it harder for a prospective buyer to see it as theirs. You want a home to feel "homey" but in a very generic way.

2. Family and personal photos can be distracting, and pull focus from your home and all of its wonderful features. I've shown homes where buyers will take the time to look at a photo collage on the staircase or the photos on the fridge, and they'll comment on how cute the kids are or how they got married at the same place. Which is all well and good, but buyers walk through homes pretty quickly, and I want them to spend their time checking out the KITCHEN, not the photos on the fridge, you know?

If a home is truly marketable and priced right, then the photos will probably not make or break a sale. But it's a small inconvenience to have to pack up photos for awhile, and I think with so much competition out there, every little edge helps.

Re: On the market- personal pics up or no?

DH & I looked for a home for 2 years till we finally found ours. I have to say that it NEVER bothered me to see personal pics. Now I understand the POV that buyers want to envision themselves in the home so you should take them down but IMPO, seeing pics of happy smiling families made me excited thinking how happy MY family would be there. The one thing that I def agree w/is to declutter. Also, the house we bought had family pics in every room, including the bathroom.

Good Luck...

Re: On the market- personal pics up or no?

I liked having pics... it made the houses feel move like people could live there. The cold, sterile houses weren't as attractive to me.

Re: On the market- personal pics up or no?

we had our 1st home staged and it sold within a month and made a decent profit. it did include taking all personal pictures down. we were told the purpose is so sellers can envision themselves living there. it was a pain and not sure if not having personal pics up or not made the difference. in the long run i'm glad we listened to the stagers.

good luck!

Re: On the market- personal pics up or no?

I understand the reason for this, however, I have a friend whose home is decorated beautifully. She has a wall that has those thin black ledge shelfs with beautiful family photos on it. The way it was designed was awesome and made me want to have something similar in my house, so I think if it is designed nicely and not cluttered, then it can stay... now I know sometimes I get too attached to my own stuff and will have no idea if it is designed nicely or a bit cluttered, so maybe post a picture and we can tell you to take it down or leave it up from an outside point of view?