House staging empty posh homes with a family for cheap rent: PF Weekly Grab a brew #81

DOES ANYONE REALLY LIVE HERE?

I thought I had heard it all when it came to house selling tips including house staging. 

Nope, I was wrong because now if your home is empty due to divorce, moving suddenly or living out of country or province you can rent your home to real people for cheap. There is a catch though….. read on.

Remember that a big house doesn’t make you happy nor does renting one just because you can. It’s a temporary high that many people dive into because they think it will make situations better. That’s not always the case unless you have some serious cash to back up that mortgage.

Everyone knows that when it comes time to sell your house potential buyers snoop around. They want to know a bit about the buyers and they want to know why they are selling the house. Although agents are not supposed to say anything we all know many do.

It’s about selling the house as fast as possible which means leaking valuable info could lead to a quick sale. I’m not making this up either because it’s happened to us many times when we have went to open houses. All you have to do is ask the agent and many will tell you in a roundabout way why the seller is moving. Like it’s anyone’s business.

We happened to find out our neighbour was moving because they were getting a divorce and she bought a new property which she was already living in and they needed to sell this one. I’m pretty sure the seller didn’t ask her agent to air their dirty laundry but I guess that’s what you pay for when you pick the wrong real estate agent who is only out for one thing… money!

Tips for selling your house

When selling your house the marketing campaign behind the home is important because if your real estate agent isn’t working with you to make sure your home is in tip-top shape it may sit on the market longer than you’d like.

If you are a “For sale by owner” type of seller than advertising and marketing of your home is crucial although not all campaigns are created equally. Depending on what is happening behind the scenes things could make the sale a bit rough.

It doesn’t have to be this way though because we can now hire home stagers for those people who are divorcing where the home is lacking love and tenderness or for the other reasons I mentioned above.

No one wants to walk through an empty house because it’s hard to visualize yourself living in the house. To be honest though some of the open houses we went through we’d rather the house be left empty so we could picture the space as our own. Selling a home with too much stuff can put buyers off.

House staging ideas can mean furnishing your home so the house looks lived in and kept in pristine condition. Home decor and design is big business and sometimes it’s best to let the pros do their job to help you sell your home faster. House staging will allow the potential buyers to see the home as somewhat of a model home.

I don’t want to see landscaping where goats would love to linger, messy beds, clothes stuffed in closets topped off with dirty walls and floors. It’s disgusting and if we know that you didn’t take care of the home why would we want to buy it? Those are some big reasons why your house isn’t selling, but not the only reasons.

Human house staging

You may also have potential buyers who look past the dirt and disorganized house and will ask for a reduction in the price because you didn’t stage your house properly.

It’s amazing how staging a house for sale can make or break the deal for the seller and agent but for the money that it costs it may be something you should consider.

Now, here’s something about house staging that I read today. You can rent your home to house mangers! You not only fill your home with furniture you fill it with people too!!

I’m no pro when it comes to selling a house but when the time comes I’ll be selling our house on our own and that’s why it’s an important topic for me.

We don’t want to pay an agent and that’s our prerogative but even without an agent you must still take pride in preparing your house for sale. Many people successfully sell their homes as “For sale by owner” BUT what happens when the house is empty?

If you can’t be there to take care of it then you must hire someone and potentially hire an agent because it’s hard to sell a house on your own if you’re not living in the area.

House managers moving in

I’ve never seen this on any HGTV real estate TV show but maybe I’m just missing it.

Check this real scenario out…

The Muller family which includes what seems to be 4 children fell on hard times in Missouri so they packed up their grand piano and $10,000 Pakistani rug and moved to Florida. This is where they were able to rent a $750,000 show home on a golf course for $1200 a month so they could continue living the posh life they lived in Missouri.

Are they “complete idiots” as one Yahoo reader commented? Maybe, I know I sure wouldn’t bother.

The Mueller family appear to be complete idiots. -G

They could have easily sold the above items and found a reasonably priced house to put a down-payment on and owned their own home. Sure it might not have been a mansion but who cares? Obviously they do. I also question where the parents worked? Do they work from home? How are they paying the rent? None of my business, I know but hey I’m nosey.

Now common sense would tell you to sell what you have left so you can put some cash in the bank, but not these folks. Perhaps the piano and rug had sentimental value for them so they wanted to keep them in the family.

Next idea would be to go on a strict budget and live with-in your means. What does that mean? That means if you couldn’t live the extravagant lifestyle in one house why are you trying to do it another? They didn’t seem to care and rented the house BUT there was a catch.

This house really wasn’t for rent as in to live in for an extended period of time… nope!

By moving into the house they were called “house managers” a term that is new to me but the goal was to add “energy” to the house. No, not psychic energy either, lol. Don’t ask me but I guess it means to add a bit of “life, laughter and love” so it wasn’t a boring home.

The catch is that the house is on the market for sale!! Yup, you read that right. This family is renting a dream house but under strict rules that they must keep it in pristine condition and vacate during open houses or house viewings with agents. A house like the one they are renting would have typically rented for far more money than $1200 a month.

Sounds like you can easily live the frosted life but for the owners of these homes it gives potential buyers that “family” lived in look and they are cashing in at the same time.

Apparently this is not uncommon in Tampa Bay and many show homes over $500,000 have house managers who live in the house while it is on the market for sale. I guess not all rich people like to stick around when the house is on the market so someone has to do it.

Sure the pros for these house managers are that the rent is cheap, you live in an amazing home but the cons meant they would have to move on a dime. Who wants to live like that? Not us!

Best of all a franchised home staging company called Showhomes which are all around the USA are a service that high-end homeowners flock to for help selling the house.

Like I mentioned the “lived in feel” is better than walking through a house that is empty and has no life. I agree with the company that people will low-ball on the price so why potentially lose thousands when you can make money renting and house staging with humans at the same time.

I don’t know if I’d want to rent out my house for sale to invite house managers as human stagers into the home but if that’s what it takes for some then go for it. I also don’t think I’d rent a home like this either because in the moment it may seem glorious but it’s simply putting your life on hold for immediate pleasure and we all know nothing good really comes of it.

Do we do this in Canada? I don’t know… if you do leave a comment below because I want to hear about it.

Would you be interested in renting your home to house managers for human house staging?

Top recipe

If you don’t already know I have a second Facebook page called The Free Recipe Depot where I share recipes from other Foodie Bloggers from around the world.

Once a week I pick one recipe that has been submitted as my Top Recipe of the week. Trust me when I say this is no easy task as some of these foodies can cook up a storm.

This week I picked a recipe that fits the season perfectly… Summer Salad which is loaded with sweet peaches, grilled corn, avocado and lots of veggies. I make a salad that is similar but with watermelon, tomatoes, fresh basil, feta, red onion etc…. and I’ll be sharing that soon on the blog for all of you!!

If you can think outside of the box you can create dishes that are not only unique but something that other people may want to enjoy because it’s not the same old food. Thanks Life Currents for sharing this lovely recipe at The Free Recipe Depot!

Weekly CBB posts

If you missed any CBB posts from the week here is the list of posts you can catch up on reading! You will notice that I’m only posting 5-6 days a week now. You may notice this post will be combined with my Saturday Weekend Review shortly as well. More explanation to come soon!! – Mr.CBB

• How to tackle financial fears so you have no regrets
• Do you spend more or less when grocery shopping alone?
• Young adult teaches us about being house poor in 15 minutes
• Homemade Lemonade
• Would you spend money at a restaurant without free-wi-fi

Editor’s Pick

Every week I will pick a blog post of the week from around the web that I found interesting and want to share with you and an Editor’s top blog post pick.

Editor’s blog post pick of the week

Are you living the life you want- Retire By 40– I enjoyed this post because it’s a reminder to all of us that if we aren’t living the life that we want than we must get out there and get it. Nothing in life will fall in our laps so if you want it, go get it. Life is short, yes so find out why you are unhappy and what matters to you most and push for it. Great post… must read!! I love motivational posts like this.

Well, that’s a wrap for this PF Friday’s Grab a brew #81. If you are a personal finance blogger and if you would like to guest post at CBB please send me an email as I’m recruiting for new guest posters.

Happy budgeting and I’ll see you here again next week when I do it all over again.

~Mr.CBB

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