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

I used to commute from the outskirts to Georgia Tech. Traffic wasn't really that big a deal most days. A lot better than Hartford. Of course Hell is probably better than Hartford.

Reply to
J. Clarke
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Back when I was in the automotive service business as Service Manager for Toyota I used to make the run from Waterloo to Scarboonie every couple of months. Started out I could do the trip in an hour and a half to get to headquarters for 9am if I left at 7:30. Then it got so I could do it in an hour and a half if I left at 7, but it took over 2 if I left at 7:30. By the time I got out of that business back in '89, if I wanted to be there for 9am I had to leave at 5:30 - and I'd arrive at 7:00. If I left at 6:00, I'd get there at 8:00, if I left at

6:30 I might get there by 9:30 on a good day - - - -
Reply to
clare

You want to see an 18 lane parking lot? Try driving across Toronto between 3PM and 6pm, or 6:30AM and 9AM. It used to be you could drive across Toronto in "off hours" with hardly any traffic - now there are NO "off hours" - I've been caught in a traffic jam at 2AM heading west - - -

Reply to
clare

certainly you mean overpaying them

Reply to
Electric Comet

I grew up in NYC. I hated NYC traffic since Day 1.

My family and I used to leave for Jones Beach at 6AM. We'd eat breakfast at the beach, swim until it got crowded and then drive home, laughing at all the people stuck in traffic on the LIE and Meadowbrook trying to get to Jones Beach. (and they were going to be stuck on the way home too.)

After getting out of the USCG and going to college in NYC, I only took interviews for jobs outside of NYC. Why? Because I grew up in NYC and I hated NYC traffic since Day 1.

I like to drive and for the past 30+ years I've been able to.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

You mean they're stealing money from you? Are they forcing you to use their services?

Reply to
krw

When I lived in Philadelphia my commute was to outside the city so it was much better than the opposite but still not fun. I've done my share of NYC, Hartford and Boston but mostly a day at a time. I cannot imagine doing it every day for years.

My commute for the past 27 years was 24 miles and in light traffic 32 minutes, heavy traffic 34 minutes. My commute now is to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. I'm liking it.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Pretty close. Not saying they are stealing money, but in many cases they are not providing the service you are paying for. Worse yet for home inspectors than realtors.

Reply to
clare

You chose to hire them and agreed to the terms. They don't get paid if you aren't successful in selling your home. How is that being "overpaid"?

My selling agents have been worth every dime I paid them. We had a loser buyer's agent but she didn't get paid a dime either. Her replacement got paid the buying side of the commission for a few hours work (she was willing _to_ work).

Reply to
krw

You need to vet your agent, whether buying or selling. In a hot market any agent can sell your house and get you a good price. In a slow market just about any agent can get you a suitable house.. Whether they have fully represented you, and provided you all the information they should have when buying, or given all the information to the buyer they should have, is another question. Getting you into or out of a house isn't the whole job.

Reply to
clare

Sure, in a slow market the agent's biggest job is to find buyers but the buyer isn't paying the agent. The fact is that the seller is paying both ends of the deal. Since you, the buyer, aren't paying the salary of the agent, he can't be over-priced. You don't seem to understand that both agents are working for the seller, no matter what they may say.

Reply to
krw

You may not be paying the "buyer's agent" directly - but the agent is being paid, and it IS coming out of your pocket indirectly because the cost of selling the house is reflected in the price you pay when you buy the house. There is no "free lunch"

If you manage to get a "double header" agent - the listing agent also being your "buyer's agent" it is doubly important that they know what they are doing -Or a triple header - listing and selling YOUR house, as well as being the listing agent on the house you buy and your "buyer's agent"

When we bought our house (and sold our old house) the house we bought was listed by a different agent working for the same company. - but neither was the "buyer's agent" for the buyer of our old house.

I'm sure glad I'm not buying or selling in the current market. We were looking 2 years ago but I'll put in stair lifts and stay in the house we have for a lot less than just the real estate comissions involved in changing houses - and there are no decent bungalows available for what we are likely to get for our 2 story - and I refuse to deal with a mortgage in retirement.

Reply to
clare

On 4/5/2017 10:35 PM, snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca wrote: Snip

What's a mortgage? ;~)

Reply to
Leon

Slavery for young people

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

A method used to raise cash at a low interest rate so that it can be invested at a higher rate of return.

Possibly risky and something that has to be managed carefully, yes, but a strategy used by wealthy people (and businesses) quite often.

Lots of rich folks (and businesses) have mortgages that they could pay off this afternoon if they wanted to.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

I'm in Real estate. Granted, most of what I do is commercial, but it's the same thing at the end of the day. Leon nailed it with this:

Basically the area is not only intended to be a shop and a perspective

Current Owner's shop could be new owner's gym ... or their home office for the business they run, or a place for the kids to play out of earshot of mi grained parents, or (today) a 'private movie theater' (I still can't believ e that trend.) ...a billiards/pool room. In the setting that you describe d, it's possible that the shop becomes a recreational place for the new own ers to set up their equipment & fun for the new pool they may add to the ba ck yard. Add a hot tub, little bar, open up the back with a slider or big overhead door, and bang-- you're in their maritime oasis.

The best bet is for the people reviewing the home is to see "whatever it is they may see" in the home's rooms. Therefore, the best bet for a person se lling a home is to let the buyers see "whatever it is they may see."

Think about the very first time you saw your shop-- what was it when you s aw it? In my case, it was someone's garage. My prior shop before that was a workout room. My wife saw my shop as a greenhouse/garden set up area. ( I claimed it first and she got the front porch, which has better light anyw ay!)

In terms of staging, generally speaking, a living room is a living room, a bedroom really is a bedroom (or small office), and a dining room really i s a dining room. These are easy to declutter and stage. Not much staging is done in a kitchen-- it usually already has its stuff. "Bonus" spaces, h owever, are best left empty or nearly empty.

Reply to
Steve

getting "over-leveraged" is a significantly common cause of bankruptsy

Reply to
clare

So what you are saying is people have no imagination and can only see it for what it is.

Years ago, homes were never staged, you went out and saw what people had. You used your imagination. Figured out what you wanted it to look like.

Reply to
woodchucker

Yes! Exactly. Repulsive, but true. If you have ever watched any of thos e "Buy it now" type home shows, think of the number of times someone's said "Ugh. We can't buy this house! The walls are green! How awful! We're out of here." I just shake my head...then turn the channel.

But if that's how people think about green (pink, brown, paneled, papered) walls which are ridiculous easy to change, then just imagine how they are v iewing a room with nearly a ton of hardened steel and cast iron equipment i n the middle of it. That's not to mention the walls full of ductwork, condu it, lumber racks, and everything else we all take for granted or consider a n asset to our spaces.

Reply to
Steve

On 4/6/2017 11:57 AM, woodchucker wrote: Sniop

Yes, times have changed. My wife cannot picture a piece of furniture that I want to build until I draw it. I pretty much see the protect before I draw it.

It is surprising how many people can't picture something that is not there.

Reply to
Leon

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