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Housing/Staging Question.....

StellaZStellaZ
in Washington Babies

So, our house is tiny (2/1+ studio). It is for sale and has been for 6 months. We dropped the price to be more competitive and have seen more serious buyers in the last month or so...but still nothing....

We have a larger Master Bedroom and then Grady's smaller room. In our bedroom we have only a bed, dresser and treadmill. I really want to SWAP rooms and SELL the treadmill. We wanted to keep the treadmill if we got a bigger house, but even then it's a crapshoot as to where it would go....really we just need get outside and walk the dog more, right?

If you saw a house where the kid's room was bigger than the main bedroom - would that be weird? IMO it's not big enough to warrant the cost or need to have it staged (we have thinned out stuff and keep it super tidy, etc). I don't hang out in the Master but read in bed - but I really want him to have more play area without taking over the living room. 

I'm just a little tired of this situation compromising being comfortable in our own home....thoughts?

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Re: Housing/Staging Question.....

  • IdahoGirlIdahoGirl
    As a parent with young kids with a lot of stuff, I'd understand why you'd do that.  But I do think most parents would be thinking long term that the rooms weren't big enough and it might prove to be challenging for you if you've already had the house on the market for 6 months.
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  • Seattle_JiLLnSeattle_JiLLn
    Have you ever watched real estate intervention? He would definitely say not to do that. He says you need buyers to see how they would live there. He would also say being on the market so long is really bad. I wonder if you took it off for a few weeks and got it staged how you want it an make sure everything looks great like new paint and nothing that looks like a fixer upper and then relist it at a really competiive price if you could see some movement? I'm not sure if taking it off and putting it back up would help but I'd think when people look for new listings you'd at least show up.
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  • dawnies79dawnies79
    I would probably wouldn't swap rooms. Not everyone looking at your house will have children which means they may not understand the need for the child to have a larger room. Even though people should be visualizing a home how they would have it set up, that is not always the case. They are not able to get past how you have it set up as not everyone has the ability to visualize. That is part of the need for "staging" i.e. reducing clutter, neutral colors, etc. And when I say staging that does not mean professional. There are plenty of things you can do on your own, and it sounds like you have. 
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  • StellaZStellaZ

    I see your point(s). I'm really torn. Honestly, I'm just tired of the whole process and am ready to take it off the market for good and maybe try again in a few years. Showings and cleanings are exhausting. We are not desperate to move, but we eventually want to move Eastside for schools - and we work over there now so why not try sooner than later, right?

    The catch-22 is the buying market is so great right now. But we are as low as we can go in price. I'm reticent to go to the effort and cost of stage and paint if we end up staying another few years - when I would want it the way it is. I do think our demographic is people without kids, if that makes a difference. We've been on 3 "short lists" in the last 2 months (each a childless couple)and they say they really like it, but they always end up going with larger fixer-uppers farther south ...*sigh*... and there's not much we can do about that....

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  • TwinMommy09TwinMommy09
    I always find it is hard to see a space outside of how it is staged; including bad/broken furniture or fixtures. Get a storage unit??? I hear you on the space issue. I want to talk to you about this more, we want to sell too, love your advice.
    ~Heather

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  • Seattle_JiLLnSeattle_JiLLn
    Can you rent your place out and buy something now?
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  • IdahoGirlIdahoGirl

    imageSeattle_JiLLn:
    Can you rent your place out and buy something now?

    This is a fantasic idea and is actually a wonderful investment, but only if you can afford two mortgages on your own.  There *will* be periods of time when you don't have a renter and things will go wrong - broken toilets, painting between tenants, etc.

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  • StellaZStellaZ
    Yeah, that is totally NOT an option for us. We are not handy in the least, and frankly I could not deal with the hassle or stress. My goal is to keep life as simple as possible. Like I said, we are not desperate to move - it would just be really really nice. In fact, our ARM is down to 3% now, so we probably should stay put and just save $$...but having more space and less commute would also be much simpler and make our lives easier! Ugh, buying when also selling just plain sucks.
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  • mishquichemishquiche member
    I would live it as is.  I can relate - our condo has been up on the market for four months and we haven't had any offers.  I think we will be taking it off the market soon.  It really sucks.
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  • nykolanykola
    imageIdahoGirl:

    imageSeattle_JiLLn:
    Can you rent your place out and buy something now?

    This is a fantasic idea and is actually a wonderful investment, but only if you can afford two mortgages on your own.  There *will* be periods of time when you don't have a renter and things will go wrong - broken toilets, painting between tenants, etc.

    This is what we have to do. We have an offer in on a house right now...waiting to hear back. The tough part is that if you can't prove 12 months of rental income from your property (which is impossible for us since we're LIVING in our place right now) then you have to be pre-qualified for a mortgage assuming ALL debt including your current mortgage. It sucks knowing that essentially we'd be pre-approved for about $200k MORE than what we currently are preapproved for, but such is life. I guess it's keeping us from getting some ridiculously big house that we really don't need right now.

    Every day of my life, I wish I were a first time homebuyer right now. Wowzers there are some good deals out there.

    I hope you find the solution you need!  Since you have such a low interest rate, another option may be to move out and rent a bigger place elsewhere while renting out your current place and building up that year's worth of rental income so that you can look to buy a house without taking your current mortgage into consideration.

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  • IdahoGirlIdahoGirl

    imagenykola:
    Since you have such a low interest rate, another option may be to move out and rent a bigger place elsewhere while renting out your current place and building up that year's worth of rental income so that you can look to buy a house without taking your current mortgage into consideration.

    J and I have talked about doing this, but lordy the thought of not having a renter for the house terrifies me.  Regardless of what we'd qualified, we'd still have to cover the mortgage if we didn't have a renter.  We could do it, but man alive money would be tight.

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