Maine real estate needs staging (for sale, home sales, buyers)

[tlb71]

Originally Posted by mollysmiles

I can completely understand the *idea* behind staging, and I'm a sucker for the TV shows that help people do it effectively. That being said though, I think most of us have the ability to look beyond the staging or the personalized clutter belonging to someone else and see what WE would do as owners. Of course, sometimes that vision is long term and not shared by a DH!! Not that I'd be speaking from experience there.....

I agree... filthy dirty is one thing and would make me wonder what else was neglected, but I really don't care how the seller chooses to decorate as I am buying the *house* and not their furniture.
It is not uncommon for houses to sit on the market for more than a year in Maine, but I think it has more to do with population size, location, and price more than the color of the living room. Our clean, clutter free, neutrally painted house has been on the market since August, and some comps in the area have been on the market for more than a year... there are a few houses selling, but not many.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

"No wonder so many of the houses here have sat on the market for months (and some for a year! )"

Mainers are not able to live in a "staged" house for a year. We need our stuff. I know that some buyers are accustomed to living in the equivalent of a motel room for years on end. We are not.

"No offense - just my 2 cents."

And worth what you paid for it.

[Submariner]

When I was in college, for a short time I worked in an apartment complex as an electrician. The complex owner was wanting to flip the complex. He had a crew doing landscaping. A crew doing interior patching and painting. And me. They even rolled on tar on the parking lot to make it blacker.

None of the work was to actually improve the complex, but to make it look improved.

They had a bunch of units rented to Hmong immigrants, who tended to build fires in their ovens and complain as the kitchens had no stovepipes. Their fires would destroy the stove wiring. So while they were getting instructed on our cultural skills. I had to re-wire many stoves.

Wiring in a stove-top needs hi-heat insulation to be able to survive it's normal projected lifespan. But that costs more. I was instructed to only use cheaper wiring, that would certainly burn-up within a year. But it would make the stoves appear to be fully functional.

I have ethical issues with the 'flipping' mind-set.

[BacktoNE]

I can look past poor decorating taste and clutter. What I will not overlook is deferred maintenance. Really, if someone knows that a potential buyer is coming to take a look, and you get nearly 24 hours notice, why on earth do you still have standing dirt on your baseboards, laundry on the floor, etc. If a home owner can't be bothered with the simple stuff, it makes me think that they aren't bothering with the important issues either. Like furnace maintenance, plumbing & electrical upgrades, etc. Those are the houses I turn around and walk out of. I'm tired of taking on total fixers. BTDT.

[Maineah]

Most of the actual "staging" done on these TV shows amounts to nothing more than a thorough cleaning. The idea is that you're going to move soon so boxing up junk you don't need allows the room to look bigger etc. I agree with NMLM that houses in Maine take a LONG time to sell sometimes. The people across from us have had their house on the market for over a year now. They did the staging thing at first but now just run the vacuum cleaner around if someone is coming to look at the place. There ARE people who live in sterile envrionments though. Obsessive Compulsive I think they call it. My In-law's house looks like it's in a perpetual state of readiness to sell. If you walked through the place you would think it was a model home for show. Everything in it's place all the time. They wouldn't even let the grandkids visit as they were afraid they might make a mess. I'm serious! They have a cleaning woman come twice a week. You could eat off the floor! We call it the museum. So some folks are nasty neat and expect others to be the same.

[7th generation]

I tend to agree with the OP. A dirty, cluttered house does not impress potential buyers and there's a chance they will leave a prospective purchase before seeing the whole house.
Then again, if your house is neat and clean, your mother has taught you right and you don't have to worry about showings.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by 7th generation

Then again, if your house is neat and clean, your mother has taught you right and you don't have to worry about showings.

If my DW decided to live as nasty neat as her mother she's be living alone! A man needs to p** off the porch once in a while!

[maine4.us]

I, a mere man, would prefer the house give me a picture of the owners. A house that is lived in, and loved in would make my 6th sense immediately say, hum.....this is an okay house.
I went in a house in Lubec, Maine, and the owner had recently passed away, and the children wanted a quick sale. Nothing had been done to the home. When we walked in the door, I was struck numb by the obvious sadness in the house. We took a quick look and were out the door, in fact we couldn't wait to get out of the house. My DW and I said at the same time we were glad to get out of there. The house was on a beautiful lot with a view of the Campobello Island bridge, and a city park was in front of the house, about 10 feet below below the house. The view and lot were fantastic, the house......no way....
So, in this mere man's perspective, a house that is lived in would much more likely attract me than a sterile environment.

[dmyankee]

Buy the crappiest house in the best neighborhood and you will never go wrong.

I have sold all kinds of properties over the years...as is, as seen, told all perspective buyers, this is what I want, and this is what you get. Always got what I wanted. They either want to live there or they don't.

[rossco17]

I just sold my house, and therefore, i'm a buyer right now myself - so i feel that i can see both sides. I don't know exactly what constitutes 'staging', but when we were getting our home ready to sell, we potted pansies for the yard, boxed up a lot of clutter (knickknacks, family photos), organized closets, cabinets, and workbench, hung much more big art and mirrors on walls, brought in about 8 floor and table lamps for more light, and even brought in a coffee table where we just needed one. Our realtor provided these things as part of her service (still paying the std. 5%) and i think doing this really improved the look of our house.

When i view a house as a buyer and see it dirty, or laundry all over the place, or girly posters in the teenager's room, or whatever - it doesn't make me feel good about the house. I don't know if these people need to get ready for selling or "stage", but it could look much more appealing to folks with more effort. i guess i just don't know the difference.