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

[DerbyDad03]

I live on a hill, high above a bay and about 2 miles from one our Great Lakes.

A few years ago we got a letter from our Ins Co telling us that we were in a FEMA designated flood zone and that we had to either buy our own flood insurance or they would buy it for us.

It would take a flood of biblical proportions for my house to flood due to a storm. Houses that are less than a mile from me would be completely submerged before my house even got wet.

I called the Ins Co and was told that it was basically a mistake by their IT department. A small coding error caused the letter to be sent to *everyone* that had a mortgage with the company.

Here's the kicker: It took them over 3 months to inform us, by letter, that the first letter was in error.

I wonder how many people bought flood insurance based on the letter because they didn't know any better. I also wonder what happened when they tried to cancel it. Would the Ins Co's refund them the 3 months of premiums? Would they charge them a penalty?

[krw]

Irrelevant. The point is that the builder gets the same money either way.

All irrelevant. ...or are you saying that you would buy a house on unsurveyed property?

[krw]

No, they can't.

[Leon]

Look, I am only telling what the builder told me. I got the $5,000 discount for paying cash and not involving a mortgage company. This obviously saves the builder money. Seriously, why else would the builder offer me and additional $5,000 off after the negotiated price?

No, you are going off on a tangent again.

[krw]

...and I'll bet you would have gotten the same deal if you'd walked in with a check from &megabank.

Not a tangent at all. Those are fixed costs. You're paying them whether you have a mortgage or not. ...or pretty dumb not to.

>

[DerbyDad03]

So, at the suggestion of his realtor, my neighbor emptied his woodworking shop. He left a large rolling toolbox, a wet-dry vac, some boxes and paint cans and other assorted odds and ends.

The only pictures of the basement are of the room that used to be his shop. The main basement, with the washer, dryer, furnace, water heater, etc. is not included in the listing pictures.

The listing includes the words:

WALKOUT BSMNT FEATURES GLASS BLK WNDWS, FBA, & LARGE SHOP W/LOTS OF ELECT!

So much for letting potential buyers use their imagination as to what the room could be used for. ;-)

[Ed Pawlowski]

Nice size for a shop but if they don't show the rest it looks small overall. It would be more attractive had he put some rock up on the ceiling and would have brightened his shop.

[Steve]

ha!! after all that..

[Electric Comet]

the point of removing furnishings is to make the space look and feel bigger

[woodchucker]

yep, but it looks big... ... stupid stuff all this window dressing. when will people stop falling for it.. People have lives. they live. Apparently no one has an imagination anymore.

[woodchucker]

It's all BULL SHIT window dressing for idiots

[krw]

I certainly wouldn't want a drywall basement ceiling. The access to electrical and plumbing is too valuable. Put in a drop ceiling, if you must.

[Electric Comet]

the techniques are meant to appeal to the base emotions or responses

sometimes called the reptilian brain

[Electric Comet]

how is he coping without doing some woodworking

[krw]

There is a limit to that. There should be enough in a room to make it look useful but not enough to make it junky. A lot of people can't "see" their bed in an empty room. OTOH, if there is a queen bed in the room, it's a lot easier to imagine your king in the same room. There is a reason people pay big money to stage homes.

[clare]

Total waste of money in this local market where there are multiple bids on virtually every listing, and they usually sell way over listed price - with no conditions, and often sight unseen. Crazy I know, but that's the market in the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

[FrozenNorth]

Yep, I own a house in Toronto, it is crazy to see the the listed price, and then hear the selling price. The last one on my street went over

120K over asking.

[clare]

A friend sold his house in Waterloo to a Toronto couple - first offer

- $75K over asking, no conditions cash offer - - -

[krw]

Probably but it makes the point that you shouldn't totally empty rooms. De-junkify, absolutely. Remove everything? Not necessarily.

[clare]

In a "normal" market you want the house look like it's liveable. A bit of furniture gives it some "scale". I think an empty house is a harder sell - in a normal market. If nothing else it detracts from some of the normal "wear and tear"