Quote:
Originally Posted by LIforrelaxin
Are you fricken kidding me? You would let those things get in your way of considering a property?
The entire process of "staging" a property is over rated. Because if it is staged in a different way then a potential buyer would want to see it, it can actually work against you....
What if the owner prefers not to use a bed frame some people don't.... Just because you think they are necessary doesn't mean they are....
So a couple of Adirondack chairs are blown over.... what if the person looking at the photos doesn't even like Adirondack chairs....
Perception is important don't get me wrong. But the things mentioned here are frivolous... If I was able to afford to look at property for 4M$.... I am likely also planning to come in and spend an additional 500K - 1M$ to make updates to the property to make it mine...
Last if I was buying a 4M$ piece of property, I would also be investing some money, in a thorough inspection of the home including heating and hot water systems as well as the structure itself to insure I knew what I was buying.
In the end the pictures are fine... only nit picky people would be offended by them.
|
Staging is not overrated. Nearly all real estate agents focus on this because first impressions are lasting ones and it gives them a competitive edge. They aren't doing it for fun. They will also tell you to paint the walls, get rid of personal photos, clean up the basement, re-carpet the dining room and maybe rearrange some furniture. Simply stated, a place that looks clean and well-cared for is more attractive than one that isn't. It gets folks in the door who might otherwise walk by. Especially these days when people make quick decisions over the Internet. If they see pictures of unkempt properties, then a perfectly qualified buyer just might just move on to the next listing. I would likely approach just such a property with, at a minimum, elevated suspicion.
Especially a property like this where they are trying to get $4M for a $2.5M+. Why wouldn't you take the simple extra steps to clean it up? Yes, a lot of it's smoke and mirrors, but if it gets more people in the door then why not? Take two properties, exactly the same, except one is clean and the other is not. The clean one is going to get more interest and better offers.
Of course, in a very narrow slice of some very rare market, such as Winni lakefront during this Pandemic, people are stumbling over one another to buy those properties, all the while practicing less due diligence than they would in normal times. Staging is probably less critical in these situations. However, this is the exception rather than the rule. Still, to get a bit of advantage, why wouldn't you just do the simple things at least? It doesn't take a huge amount of effort to turn the chairs over.
A good thing with all this is that there still are people, like the owner/realtor of this property, that apparently don't give a hoot about staging. That does create opportunities for folks like you, LIfor, that place little emphasis on these things and will always investigate further. Maybe you can get a better deal because of that. But in that case we're talking about an advantage for buyers/still a disadvantage for sellers.