Watched an episode of Get it sold last night with Sabrina Soto. The houses featured on this show never seem to sell, even though they also lower the price. (at least in time frame covered by the show) plus she removes every vestige of personality from a home so that it looks like a hotel. I would really question this new attitude that a prospective buyer does not have the ability to visualize their own things in a home that already contains anyone else's! Also Sabrina in this episode removed a floral arrangement from a table in the hall that was much better in scale than the one she replaced it with. Another thing that is ridiculous is the claim that only $2,000 (Designed to sell) is spent when of course there would be labor/design etc. charges. The inference that this could be done by anyone is foolish. A show that might be novel would be to supply the $2,000, and the crew and let the homeowner realize their own dream for the space!
Posts: 2408 | Location: Maine, not far from the ocean | Registered: Jun 27, 2004
Originally posted by lady of shallot: The houses featured on this show never seem to sell, even though they also lower the price. I have noticed that as well about the homes never selling! Another thing that is ridiculous is the claim that only $2,000 (Designed to sell) is spent when of course there would be labor/design etc. charges. Maybe the labor cost is covered by HGTV!
A few of the Design to Sell shows, I have seen the homeowners staying instead of selling because they like what the designer have done to their home.
What I wonder about those shows and the House Flipping type shows are when they are filmed. The market has changed so much now it would be interesting to know how long ago things took place.
My peeve about these types of shows is in their quest to declutter and neutralize the living rooms, they remove the television.
If you have a family room and choose to remove it from the living room, that's okay, but some of these homes only have the one living space. To me that's almost like false advertising.
Posts: 428 | Location: Liverpool, NY | Registered: May 13, 2003
I went on a home tour a couple of weekends ago and two out of the three houses were personalless -- they looked like a really nice hotel -- the decoratives and pictures had no personality -- like they were bought to fill the space!
I will agree with LOS -- do homebuyers not have any imagination any more? When we bought Linderhof we couldn't open the guest closet door because of the 3 tier rabbit cage blocking it. Coming down the stairs there was a huge Santa Claus face (and it was March) and there were plastic crabs in the kitchen.
As I stated in another post, decorators are always advising us to use color color color when we decorate -- but then when we sell, it's neutral neutral neutral.
The show with the mother/daughter team really gets on my nerves. I don't watch it enough to even know the name of the show or the "team".
They go into a house that has no table in the dining room and dripping with sarcasm say "how will a buyer know what this room is"? If a buyer is so stupid they don't know that the room between the kitchen and the living room is the dining room then they're probably too stupid to even be buying a house. SAme with a bedroom. I don't need to see a bed in one to know it's a bedroom.
Give people a little credit. Not everyone is an idiot.
The last time we bought we looked at one house that had so many dirty clothes on the floor that we had to kick them out of the way to see if there was carpet or hardwood floors.
-------------------------- A Former HGTV Viewer
Posts: 1756 | Location: Georgia | Registered: May 04, 2006
"how will a buyer know what this room is"? If a buyer is so stupid they don't know that the room between the kitchen and the living room is the dining room then they're probably too stupid to even be buying a house.
Hey Southernman, thanks for the laugh!!
What kind of mileage are you getting in that thing?? Annie
I don't understand why stagers think buyers are such imbeciles. If I walk into the living room, I start arranging in my head and GUESS WHAT...that includes a television. We did look at a house that had been staged...which included the ever popular MBR with just the bed and two side tables. Immediately I was worried about where would a dresser go. The closet was inadequate to hold one. And don't get me started about making sure that the buyer knows what the room is meant for. When I buy a house I'LL know what to do with each and every room.
Posts: 829 | Location: Somewhere In the Middle | Registered: Nov 16, 2005
I think some of those shows are both helpful and harmful. They give you good ideas of what to do to make the biggest impact but at the same time, they tell you to remove all personal items.
The people looking at "lived in" homes, realize that people DO live there.
When I bought my last home (new) I fell in love with the model home. IT was staged so nicely and it had "family" pics (of someone) thru out the home. It gave it a LIVED in look, and I was able to picture my family pics in their place
There is a BIG difference between a staged home and a lived in home. What one needs to do is 'tidy' up the place...organize the closets, cupboards and drawers, remove weeds and trash, and sweep the garage, porch, sidewalks and gutters (street gutters). Wash windows, and make sure all flooring is clean and free from stains.
Cathy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Grandchildren are God's gift to you for not killing your own!
We don't stop playing because we grow old...we grow old because we stop playing
Posts: 6662 | Location: Hidden Valley Lake California USA | Registered: Oct 10, 2004
In staging homes, probably the most important thing would be to declutter -- the piles of mail in the kitchen, the pile of magazines by the chair and the pile of books by the bed. To me, if I was looking at a home and went into the dining room (which I know is a dining room because not only is it the room between living room and kitchen but it also has a table in it!) and it held only table and chairs I would wonder if there was enough room for my sideboard and would probably think not because there wasn't anything else in the room.
I agree with a previous poster, that if there are 4 rooms fairly close to the bathroom and they all have doors that could be shut -- they are bedrooms -- whether they have a bed or a desk or a computer in them. It doesn't take having a bed in a room for me to recognize the fact that it is a bedroom.
Originally posted by lmccrore: I don't understand why stagers think buyers are such imbeciles. If I walk into the living room, I start arranging in my head and GUESS WHAT...that includes a television. We did look at a house that had been staged...which included the ever popular MBR with just the bed and two side tables. Immediately I was worried about where would a dresser go. The closet was inadequate to hold one. And don't get me started about making sure that the buyer knows what the room is meant for. When I buy a house I'LL know what to do with each and every room.
I agree 200%. If a seller declutters TOO much it can be a turn off too. It will leave the prospective buyer wondering where THEIRE stuff might go and "WILL IT FIT?"
And NO one will every wonder if their TV will fit as I am married to a sport addict...we have TWO TV's in the living room
This message has been edited. Last edited by: CatieCupCake,
Cathy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Grandchildren are God's gift to you for not killing your own!
We don't stop playing because we grow old...we grow old because we stop playing
Posts: 6662 | Location: Hidden Valley Lake California USA | Registered: Oct 10, 2004
Annie
