This, they dont need to know I have a safe to begin with.
I certainly wouldn't keep the room shut off. Nothing screams red flag like an area of an house that isn't allowed to be viewed by potential buyers. Just like I don't bother getting interested in a house if they only have picture of the outside. That usually means I don't WANT to know what's in there. I'd probably pack it all up, not because of being ashamed, but because of the reality that staging can make all the difference in selling a home. It doesn't matter if you are going to take every decoration and scrap of furnishings with you when you leave, having a home have that feels warm, inviting, and most importantly, UNCLUTTERED can make all the difference when people walk through. It's a psychological thing.
I'm not saying your space looks that way, but the current trends are big, open, light feeling spaces, and if there is anything in rooms that makes them feel dark, cluttery, closed, or otherwise it can be a detriment. When my wife and I sold our house, we packed up tons of stuff. Just the bare minimums to furnish the house and make it seem nice. I didn't have my reloading set up then, but my safe was hid the closet and I would have packed it up if I had it.
That's the reason there are actually companies popping up that is the whole business. They work with realtors to stage houses for sale to do just this. They have their own inventory of furniture and accessories to use.
Now, if your realtor is "judging" you for being a gun enthusiast, then you are well within your rights to them to hit the bricks. But I'd still pack up my stuff for the sake of the look of it. Just my .02.
I'm not saying your space looks that way, but the current trends are big, open, light feeling spaces, and if there is anything in rooms that makes them feel dark, cluttery, closed, or otherwise it can be a detriment. When my wife and I sold our house, we packed up tons of stuff. Just the bare minimums to furnish the house and make it seem nice. I didn't have my reloading set up then, but my safe was hid the closet and I would have packed it up if I had it.
That's the reason there are actually companies popping up that is the whole business. They work with realtors to stage houses for sale to do just this. They have their own inventory of furniture and accessories to use.
Now, if your realtor is "judging" you for being a gun enthusiast, then you are well within your rights to them to hit the bricks. But I'd still pack up my stuff for the sake of the look of it. Just my .02.
Not too many people stage homes for sale with working gun and ammo reloading rooms, kind of new for a realtor I suppose. If you plan on working with a 'gun friendly' realtor then plan on selling to only 'gun friendly' buyers as well. Whatever that is. Myself I would hide it all just to sell the house. I dont really care about proving a point or trumpeting a cause when it comes to getting my money back in my pocket.
Its funny this was brought up on the board. Last year on Armslist here in Tulsa I almost purchased a guys whole setup. Guns ,ammo,reloading gear, and safe for a song. All because his realtor told him the house would never sell with all of it in there. At first he didnt listen and had a neighbor want to look at it for a friend that might be interested. The neighbor totally freaked out about the guns. Told everyone in the neighborhood he had them, then had a HOA meeting. Cant remember the whole story but he wanted them all out so he could sell it. It was around 21st and Utica area. I only ended up buying 4 or 5 guns and alot of his ammo. I just couldnt believe how much negativity he caught from the neighborhood. I agree with nofear, I would box it up and rent a secure storage so I could get my money in my pocket.
I think she is being honest. Unless you are in no hurry to sell your house, you want to attract as many buyers as possible. It would suck if a potential buyer from California had "moral" objections and decided not to buy because of seeing your collection. You can realtor shop until you find one that doesn't say anything, but they're not the one buying your house.
When I was looking to buy, I walked thru several houses with reloading rooms. I wasn't in the hobby then, but it didn't turn me off... in hindsight, it might've helped push me over the edge to get started.
Safes just made me envious. If the safe was included with the house, it might've tipped the scales a bit - never did see one that was included with the sale.
I do remember walking thru a house a seeing a revolver, some sort of badge, and wallet all laying nice and neat on the bedside table. Realtor wasn't in the room with me and owners weren't home... felt weird, so I left the room without touching anything. I hope that guy never lost anything - sure seemed careless though.
Safes just made me envious. If the safe was included with the house, it might've tipped the scales a bit - never did see one that was included with the sale.
I do remember walking thru a house a seeing a revolver, some sort of badge, and wallet all laying nice and neat on the bedside table. Realtor wasn't in the room with me and owners weren't home... felt weird, so I left the room without touching anything. I hope that guy never lost anything - sure seemed careless though.
Well, three pages in and as always, I'm getting sage advice. Thanks for all the input everyone. There's some very valid points about not limiting the potential buyer pool and remembering that it's not about me as the seller, it's about the buyer and their checkbook! I guess I lost perspective of just what we are trying to do. I needed to see it from the buyers perspective, not the sellers. The realtor did bring up the idea of staging the house and I'm not opposed to it, so we're starting to really go through the house and either sell, donate, toss, or give away a lot of the stuff we have accumulated. It's going to be hard enough moving everything 3500 miles. the less we have the better! We have a household's worth of crap that maintained a family of 6, we are now down to our last kiddo and she's going with us. Sometimes I forget how much we accumulated raising a family with 4 kids. Sheesh! Not to mention the big purchases like the two fish tanks, the hot tub etc.. that we have to sell off.
So, the wife and I sat down and made the decision that the reloading stuff and ammo is going to get packed away for now. I'm going to go ahead and reload everything I can, get it organized so that we can continue to practice and compete. The reloading stuff can always be brought back out temporarily to make more ammo should the need arise. It's all going in sealed containers so I decided to order a large bag of silica beads to make large desiccant packs for each of the plastic tubs.
As for the guns - those that are not being shot regularly will be going into secured storage with a family member until it time to move. The rest will live in the safe or purse or whatever. out of sight, out of mind. Those that we cannot take with us immediately will be shipped to our new place. The safe will be explained as "valuables and paperwork storage" to potential buyers, nothing more (though they will most likely have it figured out!) and will most likely be included in the house purchase, assuming the buyer wants it.
We have been preparing for this move financially for 4 years, so we are ready to get this DONE!
In short: the buyer doesn't need to appreciate my hobbies, they just need to appreciate the HOUSE.
So, the wife and I sat down and made the decision that the reloading stuff and ammo is going to get packed away for now. I'm going to go ahead and reload everything I can, get it organized so that we can continue to practice and compete. The reloading stuff can always be brought back out temporarily to make more ammo should the need arise. It's all going in sealed containers so I decided to order a large bag of silica beads to make large desiccant packs for each of the plastic tubs.
As for the guns - those that are not being shot regularly will be going into secured storage with a family member until it time to move. The rest will live in the safe or purse or whatever. out of sight, out of mind. Those that we cannot take with us immediately will be shipped to our new place. The safe will be explained as "valuables and paperwork storage" to potential buyers, nothing more (though they will most likely have it figured out!) and will most likely be included in the house purchase, assuming the buyer wants it.
We have been preparing for this move financially for 4 years, so we are ready to get this DONE!
In short: the buyer doesn't need to appreciate my hobbies, they just need to appreciate the HOUSE.
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