Do you like thrillers? The Americans is a really good spy thriller series set in the early 80s. I believe that’s still on Prime.
3 Likes
Thanks!
1 Like
Oh, and I looked at my watchlist and found some more:
-They have most/all of the BBC historical farming series. “Victorian Farm” is perhaps the best known, but all of them are interesting. The premise of each series is that a cast of experts lives and/or works on a farm from that historical period, using only the tools and techniques of the period. I remember being fascinated by them when the only way to get them in the US was watching bad quality pirated copies. I should go and rewatch with nice quality video for once.
-on an ad-supported sub-channel they have Leverage and Burn Notice, both of which are pretty cool thrillers with some good comic relief. Leverage has a reboot series which I haven’t watched yet that they also have. If you want extremely campy, they also have Chuck. Just avoid the last season, it’s terrible, lol.
2 Likes
I loved Psych - zany antics
2 Likes
We love Psych! We were so sad when it left Netflix. Highly recommend.
2 Likes
So, when selling a house, do you think staging is worth it? I’m interviewing agents and so far one always does staging, one does virtual staging and one never does it. I’m in a crazy market where people sell over a weekend with multiple offers over asking, as long as the asking price was reasonable. How do I know if it is worth it?
5 Likes
In a crazy market I wouldn’t spend the money on it.
4 Likes
Is the option staging versus empty rooms or staging versus regular house?
Not to be an asshole, but how messy/cluttered/easy to walk through is your house right now?
5 Likes
Yeah I was gonna say. Styling what you have is often all you need to do. Minimize the eff out of stuff, keep just enough to make function and layout clear, store alllll the rest.
3 Likes
Walking through is pretty easy. I’m working on the clutter part of it. Thanks to Marie Kondo in 2015 and additional getting rid of stuff since then, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much more manageable my “stuff” is than I thought it would be.
Most of the furniture is not making the move. One option I see is to get rid of it now and show most of the house empty. In that case, there would be furniture in my bedroom and the few other pieces I’m keeping could be in the basement / garage / closets. I have a sit / stand desk that looks like a table; I’d put that in the first room at a nice height with a plant and the realtor could put their brochures, sign-in sheet, and candy (or whatever) on it.
I have no decorator gene. I don’t even like the furniture that is in the family room right now and I’m not sure I want to show the house with it. For the most part I never use it anyway.
What are your thoughts on staging versus mostly empty house?
4 Likes
Are there any rooms that aren’t clear what they are? I have an open living area, without furniture it could be intimidating but I know that this area is for TV, that’s the living room area, this is where a dining room would go if you wanted that but right now this corner is a functional office, etc.
I know someone who is planning on selling on a few months and is probably going to only stage a large art piece on a wall that is slightly scuffed and is meant to have art on it anyway, and a little for the patio area. That’s it. And that’s for a high end place so she can maximize the return and minimize the days/hours on the market.
3 Likes
Ha!
I have never known what to do with the very first room when you walk in the house. You go through it, by the stairs, and it opens to the kitchen / family room area. I don’t think the previous homeowner knew what to do with it either, based on what was in it when I saw the house. It would be perfect for a piano, but I’m not staging that!
Every other room’s purpose is pretty clear.
3 Likes
Yes to staging with what you own/heavily culling. And to buying neutral curtains, bedding etc (cheaper than renting them).
Our realtor has a stager do a walk through giving advice and then sending a checklist after and being available for email questions.
There’s a ton of free stuff like making sure that any hangers in a closet are the same colour, getting rid of so much shit but having one item every second or third shelf etc. sometimes reorienting a bed. Bedrooms down to just a bed plus a dresser (or no dresser if it looks bad)
6 Likes
Either a formal sitting area or a little office?
4 Likes
We got a rare “good” deal available in the Denver metro, and I do think a reason was that the house was so badly staged. I’m sure she would have made more than the money back if it had been staged in the fine to great range.
7 Likes
Yes. Even though you know they are all staged, the unstaged houses hit so differently and sell for so much less. We probably got about an extra 25-50000 of house because it was almost empty instead of staged and the realtor made it hard to see
7 Likes
I like staged> empty > homeowner with too much stuff.
I walked around some open houses with a friend where some rooms were difficult to move around in because of too much, too big furniture. It made the whole house feel much smaller than it was. Empty is fine if most rooms are easily identified or if you have a floorplan/home description where you can give some ideas on what to do with the space (great WFH space/playroom/reading book away from the rest of the house).
If you are thinking of getting rid of a lot of stuff, start doing so before house tours or photos. The house decor thread is a good place if you want ideas on what to keep/toss or staging.
8 Likes
This is SO important on weirder layouts too. I put a lot of work into staging our last house we sold with what we had, and part of that was because we had this weird living room with multiple access points. But we had this large U-shaped couch that floated perfectly in the room and divided it into a walkway is the made a ton of sense. When we had toured it, it was terribly arranged and was very hard to visualize what to do with that room. Anyway, the buyer liked it so much that his offer included cash for our entire living room set up for us to just leave because he wanted it all. We went ahead and sold it to a him, and it made moving a lot easier too.
8 Likes
I think some good staging can get you a lot more money (doesn’t need to be elaborate). A lot of people don’t have any imagination and can’t picture furniture in bare rooms. Add in some small things that make the place feel fresh (like nice shower curtains) and it just gives people a good feeling when they come in.
5 Likes
Depends on size of the house too. Our current house is small enough that our realtor thinks it will actually sell better empty. It’s possibly lightly staged would be good as well, but I don’t know if it’s worth enough to justify it (it will likely sell for under $100K). We qualify for a big enough mortgage on a new house without selling this one first that we’re trying to buy a new place and move in before listing this one.
4 Likes