I was chatting with a friend recently who happens to be in the market for a new home. She thought of me when she did a drive-by of a property she saw online, in the rural area where she lives.
It was the perfect location for her family and it was surrounded by attractive homes but there was a huge “Keep Out” sign on the actual house itself. The second thing my friend noticed was a black and yellow “No Trespassing” sign on a post in the yard and another one nailed to a tree along the driveway.
She was certainly not interested at all in picking up the phone and calling her agent to book a showing.
A basic home staging tip would be to take down those signs!
She was happy that her husband insisted on driving by to look at the home before scheduling a showing. They couldn’t help but wonder what sort of thing could possibly go on there to warrant erecting three signs to keep people away. Is there a security issue? What goes on in that house?
I would imagine any prospective buyer who pulled into the driveway as described by my friend, would have been turned off enough to not want to get out of their car. That’s the purpose of a Keep Out sign, after all – to keep people from wanting to enter!
There isn’t any excuse for listing a property in that condition. If it was not a bank foreclosure and the homeowners are actually trying to sell that property, they need to start looking at their home not as the place where they live, but as a real estate listing.
If it was a bank foreclosure, either the financial agent or the real estate agent should have had those signs taken down. That alone could make a big difference because the truth is, a home that looks like it’s in foreclosure is not attractive to most people.
According to an article on CNN Money, there were a record three million homes in foreclosure in the US in 2009 and that number isn’t expected to go down anytime soon. Given this large number, I’m surprised there aren’t more home stagers like Corrine Mann, a recent Staging Diva Graduate who just wrote me about her first project. She’s been hired by a bank to stage one of their foreclosure properties, an opportunity that came about while she was doing the homework assignment for Course 1 of the Staging Diva Training Program.
If Corrine does a good job on this project, there’s no good reason why she won’t be contacted again to stage other foreclosures. What an excellent “foot in the door” opportunity! I’m hoping that Corrine will keep me posted about this project and its results so I can feature her in a future article.
Home stagers, have you ever been called to stage a property like the one my friend saw, with signs everywhere warning people to “keep out?” Or have you worked with a bank before to stage foreclosed properties? Please share your experiences by leaving a comment below.
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love.
[tags] home staging tip, home staging, home stager, home stagers, staging diva, home staging foreclosures, staging diva graduate[/tags]
So timely! Just yesterday, I explained this concept to a client that had “Keep door closed” signs on doors leading to various rooms in the house. Each sign had a purpose in a busy family home full of pets – but were putting off prospective buyers. I’m so glad this client called me before accepting the price drop their Realtor suggested!
There could be more to the story. I live in a smaller town (40K population) with plenty of rural area and rural homes. “No Trespassing” signs must be posted as to keep hunters off private property, particularly during overlapping hunting seasons. If not posted, trespassers could plead that they were unaware the property was private. Rural realty agents usually are aware of them.
I too live in a rural area of VT and am a native. We post our property as well due to the hunting issues. However, there are some people who post the signs at the start of their driveway, on the house, garage etc. This is a whole different feel from the posted land at least in my experience in VT. Liked the idea of staging foreclosures–a different market avenue indeed.
Another sign that may turn away potential buyers is “BEWARE OF DOG” signs. Many people do not even have dogs, they use the signs to scare people away. And that is what the sign will do to any potential buyer wanting to see the home. If the sellers do have pets that may cause a problem they should have them boarded or caged before buyers come to the home and remove any “BEWARE” signs..