These are photos that I've taken of homes.
As a buyer's agent for over 20 years I listened to buyer's comments when leaving a home. I always encouraged them to write their thoughts on the MLS tickets that I provided them.
They would come up with Great house. Felt clean, bright and ready to move into
OR the house with the 3 ft ugly wall paper in the bathroom
Or The house with all the stuff on the refrigerator
or better yet The house with the moldy bread
Sellers how do you want your house remembered?
Staging homes in the Oakland and Macomb County area incl. Bloomfield Hills, Troy, Rochester, Royal Oak and surrounding areas
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Are we staging fridges now? Do buyers actually look in the fridge? I hope not, how nosy. Unless the fridge is part of the offer.
Fridge is part of the house with most listings here. Buyers look in the closets too and the clothes aren't part of the offer.
If they pay me to clean out the fridge I do it OR hire a cleaning company
What does this oven say?
I'm old and need to be replaced OR there aren't enough cabinets in the kitchen to store things?
I recognize all of those photos..........they still haunt me in my sleep!!!
Great post, and featured already!
Great post! I've never heard of MLS tickets before. Is this something the LA gets as feedback from potential buyers? If so, what a great idea.
The appliances are generally always part of the deal here as well. I too look inside all appliances to evaluate the condition. I also look inside them when doing a consultation...to advise the homeowners to clean...or perhaps replace!
Dane, The MLS ticket is a print out of the house and description of the rooms etc. I always gave them to the buyers when looking at a home. They would then have the number of bedrooms, sizes and the glorious description the agent wrote about the house.
They could then write on the ticket their opinions of the house. Saved me a lot time going back and explaining which house was which.
Marianne, guess we have a lot of history together. Maybe I should go back thru my archives and find some before "marianne" . FEATURED !! wow I'm honored.
I'm going out to look at another estate on Monday :-)
Hi Virginia, One thing that sellers often overlook is how their home SMELLS. This is really important. If there is a distinct odor in your home, many potential buyers won't want to stick around long. Especially pet odors. So many people are allergic or are just not "pet people".
Last year we staged a $1.2 million house that had two large dogs and multiple guinea pigs as part of the family. The minute you walked through the door the smell was overwhelming! The sellers moved out, the house was staged, and even after replacing some of the carpet and cleaning the rest, the smell was still evident in the family room. And, you can't just "cover up" those smells, you've got to find the source and try your best to eliminate the cause.
How about the house with 10 prescription bottles left on the kitchen counter? I even brought one of those daily pill minders, but the elderly owner insisted that the bottles had to be left out. I suggested possible drug theft, but that did not work either. Fortunately, the other staging suggestions were followed!
Kathy
Cari, that's really funny and it's the truth.
One time I was showing a house and I did my routine of ringing the doorbell, open the lock box, open the door and ring the bell again.
This was about lunch time and the husband/seller came home with his 'secretary' and forgot in his haste to check the answering machine for showings.
They didn't hear the bells knocks or key in the lock.
My clients called this the Afternoon Delight house.
They didn't buy it.
In reading this post, I'm reminded of some of the homes I've staged over the past 3 years, including the dog pee house (over a million and the wood flooring in the entry was stained and ruined by their dog. Fortunately, ??!! the owner was living there while it was on the market because I sure wasn't going to bring in any of my inventory.
Then there was the cat pee house (Staging to Live). They must have had 3-4 cat boxes, all in need of cleaning, and a 1 year old running around with easy access to each.....yucky!!
To this day, my husband and I still joke about the "indian food" house we looked at before buying our first house in 1990. I can tell you exactly where the house is, 17+ years later.
Talk about a lasting impression!
I love these post, "Afternoon Delight": is hilarious.
Many sellers just don't understand the impression their home gives. hahaha
I referred to this posting on my other blog: www.AngieRidley.com