It happened again last weekend. As a Realtor in the Twin Cities, I was showing houses in the Lino Lakes/Blaine area to my first time home buyers. In one cute little rambler, my clients and I walked into a cozy den and there was a stuffed snarling bobcat decorating the back of the upholstered rocker. deer

It is always a show-stopping conversation piece when showing a home and there's a dead animal in the room.

Of course, in homes like this, there's never just one dead animal...In the basement there was room full of various hunting "trophies".

This is not meant to start a debate the merits of hunting or mounting a prize catch. As I show houses in Anoka and Chisago Counties is an area of Minnesota where many people love to hunt and fish, this is a home staging issue. I want point out that the average buyer does not want to come eyeball to eyeball with a 15-point whitetail buck! Imagine walking through a strange home, flipping on light switches, turning a corner and getting stared down by the glass eyes of an animal that breathed its last breath along time ago. A prized northern on the wall or pheasant on the table does not impress a buyer either.

Selling a home it is supposed to be all about the house! No seller wants to turn off a buyer by their décor. Pack and store these trophies in a storage locker or rent a POD but don't leave them to become the conversation piece of the buyers and their agent! If a buyer and their agent are admiring your hunting abilities, they aren't focused on your home...Which is after all, why they are in your home in the first place!

If you are relocating to Minnesota, are looking for Homes for Sale in the north and east Twin Cities metro area and need help from a professional Realtor, give me a call or visit my website for a FREE Relocation Packet.  Acreage homes are my specialty! Serving Anoka, Chisago, Ramsey and Washington Counties in Minnesota.

Copyright 2007 Teri Eckholm  http://www.terieckholm.com/

If you are buying, selling or relocating to Minnesota and need help from a professional REALTOR®, give me, Theresa "Teri" Eckholm, a call or visit my website for a FREE Relocation Packet or FREE Homebuyers Success Packet.   I specialize in acreage and lakeshore properties in the north and east Twin Cities metro area including Ham Lake, Lino Lakes and all communities in the Forest Lake School District! Serving Anoka, Chisago, Ramsey and Washington Counties in Minnesota.

 

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This post has been included in Minnesota Real Estate News

18 Comments on Staging 101—Why Dead Animals Don’t Sell Houses!

MAY
02
2007
 I think that you are dead wrong.  I think that this might appeal to about one in fifteen - maybe twenty thousand people.  Your point is well taken.  The more people your home will appeal to, the faster it will sell.  
7:32pm • #1
1 Featured Post

I was showing a home and went to open the shed in the backyard for my clients.   I was frightened nearly to death to find a WATER BUFFALO staring back at me.  The homeowner had a full sized stuffed water buffalo in their shed.  My client thought I was having a heart attack. 

Rita 
7:34pm • #2
1,047,838 Points 396 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master
Yep, put the critters away. I had a listing like that a few years ago. They had stuffed animals everywhere. And they were huge! Elk, bears, deer and all kinds of things. They even had a bear skin rug. I kept looking for the ex-wife stuffed and in the corner. :)
7:37pm • #3
564,633 Points 75 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master
Roger--Did you mean dead-on or dead wrong?
7:38pm • #4
564,633 Points 75 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master
Rita--Oh my goodness--That's worse than the buck anyday!
7:39pm • #5

That is a very good point. I'm not an Agent, rather, a loan officer but you do make a very good point and people definitely need to think outside the box a little bit when it comes to THEIR home. I mean it is just that, THEIR home but to someone else that could definitely be a distraction to them..

 
7:41pm • #6
564,633 Points 75 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master
BB--Did you convince them to store their "trophies"? We need to keep buyers focused on the houses...not the critters! :)
7:42pm • #7
564,633 Points 75 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Rick--Thanks for your comments...It is a distraction! When selling a home, you no longer want it to look like "your" home, you want a buyer to be thinking this could be "MY" home!
7:44pm • #8

Thanks for your comments.  I have to agree...dead animals don't sell houses.  Neither do giant animal skulls which scared one of my buyers away from a house that they probably would have put on their short list had they remember anything about the home other than the giant animal, buffalow, whatever skull that was hanging on the wall.

Best Wishes,

Kirstin Kestner, Realtor Associate - Heritage House Sotheby's International Realty

www.JerseyShoreHomeGuide.com

 
7:58pm • #9
The dead animal thing might work if the house is really cluttered-then they completely overlook all the other stuff!  :)
8:11pm • #10

Yes, please think about how many people are turned off my thinking their future home might have been a cemetery for poor animals.  Another real turn off is walking into a room and finding a snake in a fish tank - Yikes!  We advise sellers to use neutral decor and pack away their collectibles when trying to sell their homes, so that potential buyers can picture their own belongings in the house.  Who wants to think of their family photos hanging on a wall where there was once a stuffed head of something?  Dogs and cata can even turn off buyers if they don't have pets themselves.  As Realtors, we need to advise our sellers properly to make their home as sellable as possible.

8:14pm • #11

git-r-done. I guess if Larry the cabel guy was in the market it would appeal to him. I find that they most buyers can look past it and a few even find humor in it
8:17pm • #12
550,593 Points 110 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Teri...

Does this mean that if Blog Boy (Broker Bryant) should pass away before me that perhaps having him stuffed may not be such a good idea?

Geez. I was going to use him as coat rack. Sounds like I should reevaluate that plan. Or not. LOL.

TLW...ROAR!

8:18pm • #13
I remember looking at houses in California and in one house there was a life-sized Darth Maul, complete with double-bladed lightsaber, standing in the corner of the living room. A little unnerving. I think I'd rather see a stuffed bobcat than a lifesized Sith any day.
8:37pm • #14
564,633 Points 75 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Kirstin--Good point! Skulls should be packed with other treasures!

Kris--That might actually work! :)

Elizabeth--Good comments and ideas! That is our goal to assist sellers sell their homes by pointing out things they might not think of themselves!

Loretta--But what about the buyers that can't look past the animals in the room? It is our duty to our sellers to help them put their homes in the best possible light!

TLW--No need to reevaluate--Just pack and store the BB Coatrack in the POD before the first showing!

Michael--OK the Sith really should have been put in storage!! Eye to eye with a Sith is more than an heart can take!
8:50pm • #15
MAY
04
2007
1,360,093 Points 93 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog Called Shot Master
That is so MN looking... and Wisconsinish.  I have seen it in Ohio too. Less and less over time.  One of my friends had another friend's house listed.  They are big game hunters... I can't remember if they took down the trophies or not.
6:40am • #16
MAY
05
2007
256,736 Points 1 Featured Post Outside Blog
I had a client with 16 heads in the garage alone - it is a MN problem.
12:08pm • #17
564,633 Points 75 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Maureen--I think it might be in the whole 5 state area...I am know there are a lot of hunters in the Dakotas and Iowa too. Most people put them away...it's not like every home has a deer head...I run across one every 50 showings.

Kathleen--Ok that would be frightening---32 glass eyeballs staring at you when you entered the garage!
3:40pm • #18

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Teri Eckholm, REALTOR® Anoka&Washington Counties Acreage & Lakeshore Homes

Ham Lake, MN

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Address: 4910 Highway 61 N, White Bear Lake , MN, 55110

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Theresa "Teri" Eckholm/REMAX Specialists assists Minnesotans to find their way home with helpful tips and quality service. Dedication to customer service has made Teri the REALTOR® of choice for families in Blaine, Forest Lake, Ham Lake, Lino Lakes and Wyoming areas. Licensed in MN.


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