Selling A House With A Shop - Leave It For Showing Or Empty It?

My neighbor is selling his house. He has a wood shop in his basement, maybe

15 x 25. Table saw, jointer, planer, bandsaw, a couple of workbenches, etc. The shop is at ground level, with a door to the back yard. Some pretty nice stuff has come out that shop.

The rest of the basement is unfinished, basically one large room with the furnace, water heater, washer, dryer and some storage shelves. Oh yeah, there's a shower stall bathroom in the corner. The basement can be accessed by stairs from the kitchen or through the shop. They are 2 separate spaces. It's sloped lot, allowing for a walk-out basement in the rear for the shop.

His realtor has told him that he should empty the shop before showing the house, so he has moved all of his equipment and material to storage until his new house is ready.

What are your thoughts? Would you have left the shop as staging or emptied the room like the realtor suggested? I know we are biased, so maybe we aren't the right people to ask. ;-) If staging bedrooms and kitchens is all the rage these days, why not stage a shop?

Reply to
DerbyDad03
Loading thread data ...

The rule is empty because it looks bigger and the buyer imagines all his or her stuff in there.

Reply to
Michael

If you have a place to move the equipment to, move it out. As hard as this is to believe, not every man is a "He-man" and he may not, if he even has any say in the matter, care to see wood working equipment. ;~) An empty room just looks bigger and uncluttered, that is what the realtor and perspective buyers want to see for a storage area. Basically the area is not only intended to be a shop and a perspective buyer may see it as only a room intended to be a shop if it is filled with equipment. If the room is empty the buyer can see it as any thing he or she wants it to be.

Reply to
Leon

That's not the "rule" we're following as we get my dad's house ready to show.

The realtor has a "stager" on staff that went through the house and told us what to leave. Beds, a dresser, a small desk in a room that could be an office, etc. They even have air mattresses, bed frames and other items that they can set up if you can't leave your own stuff.

DAGS 'staging a house for showing'

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Which raises the question, is a shop different? I'd think that if it's cramped with power tools, thin them out so it appears there is room to work. Leave some tools and display them nicely, if possible, but in all cases, "de-junkify".

Reply to
krw

Even though some may not be "He-men" (do you know any?-), most see themselves that way. Even though they may not be avid woodworkers most would like some sort of place to get away. Home maintenance does take some space, too.

Filled, no. Used, yes. People really do want to see "lived-in" spaces. There is a whole home "staging" industry for a reason.

Reply to
krw

Sure, leave the small desk, but get rid of the 6 extra chairs, floor lamp, beer cooler, drum set, exercise bike, laundry basket and overflowing magazine rack.

Small stuff makes the room seem big and the desk is a good idea for the unimaginative that come through. Staging can make a difference.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

As others said, empty the shop. From your description it sounds like this house could have a finished basement. Many potential buyers would see the basement finished if it was empty for them to imagine. But if filled with shop equipment, and used for a specific purpose, its harder for them to ima gine all that gone and the room finished into living space. Unfinished bas ements are also storage space to many people. If empty, its easy to see it as storage space. Also consider that half the people looking at the house will be women. Assuming couples buy the house. By showing it as a shop f or a man, you are automatically causing half the people looking at the hous e to instantly be deprived of ever using that basement. When selling thing s its not good to make half the buyers happy, man shop, and half the buyers filled with rage and hate for the place, women who cannot ever use the spa ce.

Reply to
russellseaton1

My son just sold his house. They were advised to move out completely and clean it up, of course. It sold in less than 24 hours.

Reply to
G. Ross

I hate these empty your house to show it. The HGTV shows have created that mentality. Again where TV winds up becoming reality. I would have left it.

Reply to
woodchucker

What he said. A room full of big power tools just makes the room look small.

Reply to
-MIKE-

If you will notice when realtors stage a house they use a minimum amount of furniture in each room and always the smaller choices of furniture. You won't see a California King in a 12x16 bedroom.

Reply to
-MIKE-

s house could have a finished basement. Many potential buyers would see th e basement finished if it was empty for them to imagine. But if filled wit h shop equipment, and used for a specific purpose, its harder for them to i magine all that gone and the room finished into living space. Unfinished b asements are also storage space to many people. If empty, its easy to see it as storage space. Also consider that half the people looking at the hou se will be women. Assuming couples buy the house. By showing it as a shop for a man, you are automatically causing half the people looking at the ho use to instantly be deprived of ever using that basement. When selling thi ngs its not good to make half the buyers happy, man shop, and half the buye rs filled with rage and hate for the place, women who cannot ever use the s pace.

Did you miss the part of the description that stated that the shop was a se parate space from the "main" basement? 2 separate rooms, with the shop being about 1/3 of the overall basement. No one was being "deprived of ever using that basement."

BTW 2 of the things that came out if that shop was a brand new kitchen for the wife and a bedroom set for both of them. She made out just fine.

In addition, you are assuming that all couples are made up of a man and a w omen.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Also consider that half the people looking at the house will be women. Assuming couples buy the house. By showing it as a shop for a man, you are automatically causing half the people looking at the house to instantly be deprived of ever using that basement. When selling things its not good to make half the buyers happy, man shop, and half the buyers filled with rage and hate for the place, women who cannot ever use the space.

And that a woman has no use for a shop full of tools. Paint it all pink and watch the realtor's head explode.

Reply to
J. Clarke

Did you not see my tongue in my cheek? ;!)

Understood and why I specifically mentioned "storage area" and not a specific room in the house, like a bedroom, living room, dining room, etc. An unmodified basement it typically storage.

Reply to
Leon

Myn kid sister would KILL for a shop she could use year round, without having to leave the house.

Reply to
clare

Unless the room really IS big enough to be used effectively as a shop.

Reply to
clare

In a lot of cases a 12X16 is a BIG bedroom!!

Reply to
clare

Obviously, his price was too low. ;-)

Reply to
krw

Sure they can. They use it to get rid of him!

Our basement is about 2500 ft^2 of unfinished space but it wouldn't take much to finish it (I'm considering whether to sheetrock all the walls this year but I doubt I'll get it past the finance committee). No one would use it all for storage space, though I'm sure few would use half of it for shop space, either. Were I to sell the house, I would probably move the big tools out and leave the rest.

Reply to
krw

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.