Staging the House
Posted on November 5, 2007 - Filed Under Housing |
A suggestion I’m taking advantage of is that the house may rent if it were staged. Repeatedly I hear that tenants don’t have imaginations. Do I believe that? I’m not so sure.
Saving $150/month from PODS.com sounds like an excellent idea.
So Thursday, POD arrived.
Now what do I do with 10 boxes of stuff?
Guess what I did all weekend?
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8 Responses to “Staging the House”
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Interesting. I read about this when I was selling one of my houses, although the company I was reading about set up everything for you. Let me know how it goes.
If I recall, the problem was getting people to go inside the house after they drove by. There is no point in staging if you can’t get them out of the car and into the house. The paint job was supposed to accomplish that. Did it work?
Personally I prefer to see an empty space and figure how my stuff will fit in….
How much will the staging set you back?
The new paint is an excellent improvement, but
I still think that removing the security door would do the job. And, maybe the price. A small reduction in the rent amount could prevent the loss of additional months of rent.
I would write a six-month lease at a lower amount and try to get the place rented to a good tenant now. The lease will expire when the timing is more favorable to sign a new tenant at a higher rate.
Cheers,
Ben
Shaun, I certainly will.
AI, some people have been in the house. We are thinking they could afford the place, otherwise they wouldn’t have come. So I’m trying this.
Moom, I would as well. I thought about putting a floorplan in the ad so people can see the square footage.
Ben, It’s my own furniture so I’m actually saving money. By pulling my stuff out of storage, I’m no longer paying $150.
Hey, Clifford! I have to agree with Ben–you should really consider removing the security door, at least temporarily. You could keep it nearby and ask your new tenant if they’d like it to be installed for them once they move in. The security bars will make people think there’s a crime problem in the neighborhood. And, it really serves no purpose, since some criminal could just go in through a window.
Trisha, I agree wholeheartedly. The security door was removed yesterday. The house looks tremendously better!
Rule Number 1:
If the house is marketed effectively and no one rents it, the rent is too high. Lower the rent.
Rule Number 2:
If you lower the rent and no one rents the house, see Rule Number 1.
You may need to have a hard look at the comps in your neighborhood and competing neighborhoods. Have you checked with your agent, looked at all the want-ads and Craigslist, and reviewed all the property management company website offerings in the area? I know pricing is tricky in your area, but I suspect the rent is too high. Better to properly price it today than to wait out the holidays.