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Bones in the Basement - Another Good Reason to Stage Your Home

By Laurie Calhoun

Home Stager with Gloria Home Staging, Inc.

November 25, 2009 03:10 AM

Ribcage drawing If only the home seller had had a home stager in for a consultation...

This morning on NPR’s Morning Edition, host Steve Inskeep told of a Realtor and buyer in Louisiana that discovered a pile of human bones in the basement of a home they were looking at. Apparently, the bones may have come from an Indian burial site and not from foul play (at least not recent foul play), but it’s hard to figure why the owner didn’t think to remove them before the home went on the market. Mr. Inskeep did mention that the home had plainly not been well enough staged.

Boy, am I glad I live in Central Florida, where hardly anyone has basements!

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Laurie Calhoun

Gloria Home Staging, Inc. - Winter Springs, FL

Seminole County FL Home Stager

Edward - Goosebumps for sure! That's just not something anyone would ever expect. Thanks for stopping by!

Chris - This is wierd on so many levels! Yikes is right. It's good to hear from you!

Ruth - This one kind of named itself while I wrote it.Thanks for commenting!

Maureen - There's no way to be prepared for this kind of thing, is there? Did the owner just forget the bones were there? Did he think no one would notice? Soooo strange...

Nov 25, 2009 08:21 AM

Beverly Carlson

Carlson Properties 325-721-2429 - Abilene, TX

Abilene's Staging Realtor

Staging for Halloween maybe? As far as titles, you got the showstopper!,

Nov 25, 2009 03:54 PM

Michelle Molinari

FEATURE THIS... Real Estate Staging & Interior Decor - Lafayette, LA

Feature This Real, Estate Staging & Curb Appeal Concepts

It didn't happen on my watch!

~Michelle (in Louisiana)

Nov 25, 2009 04:19 PM

Cathy Lee

CL Design Services Home Staging - Danville, CA

ASP, IAHSP, RESA Danville, CA

WOW! Spooky indeed. Your title sure caught me.

Nov 26, 2009 12:15 PM

Michelle Finnamore

Toronto GTA, Alliston, Newmarket - Vaughan, ON

Preparing your property for sale

That is a new one for me and I have been confronted with everything from live rabbits in a pen in the living room to a horses head hung on a bedroom door. Ewwww!! Everytime I think of basements my mind goes back to when Pee Wee Herman had his bicycle stolen and the lady told him it was in the basement of the Alamo. He takes the bus all the way there, takes the tour, listens patiently to the guide describing the Alamo and impatiently puts up his hand to ask when are they getting to see the basement? You all know what happened next.

Nov 26, 2009 05:49 PM

Janice Ankrett

Burlington, ON

?Michelle, a horse head in the bedroom!? Did the Godfather walk by?

Hey I have bones in my basement! They're a Halloween prop;) not real;)

Nov 27, 2009 04:25 AM

Laurie Calhoun

Gloria Home Staging, Inc. - Winter Springs, FL

Seminole County FL Home Stager

Beverly - I did feel like this happened about a month later than would have been appropriate, but the news happens when it happens. I would never have made this up! Thanks for dropping in!

Michelle M. - I thought of you immediately when I heard it was in Louisiana, imagining you speaking ever-so-tactfully to the owner about why the bones really needed to go.

Cathy - I felt like I was writing a Halloween post! And finding an appropriate graphic was touchy, too. Most pictures were just too macabre for November. I'm glad you stopped by!

Michelle F. - Rabbits - gotta go, but at least they're cute. Horse head - ewwww for sure! And in a bedroom! What did you say to them?

Janice - Glad to hear your bones are just props! ;-) Be careful with them, though. My chiropractor has a prop of a human spine, and he told me that a lady once fainted when she saw it because she thought it was real. I guess bones are just OUT for staging!

Nov 27, 2009 05:11 AM

Terrylynn Fisher

Dudum Real Estate Group - BuyStageSell.com - Walnut Creek, CA

HAFA Certified, EcoBroker, CRS, CSP Realtor, Etc.

Bones in the basement...eeekkkk...you have crocodiles in Florida though...scarey!!!

Nov 27, 2009 05:52 PM

Sharon Tara

Sharon Tara Transformations - Portsmouth, NH

Retired New Hampshire Home Stager

Bones? Just add a whip and an Indiana Jones hat and you have a vignette!

Nov 28, 2009 07:01 AM

Laurie Calhoun

Gloria Home Staging, Inc. - Winter Springs, FL

Seminole County FL Home Stager

Terrylynn - You're right. We do have alligators. They don't normally get into homes, though, so they aren't usually a staging issue. Maybe a curb appeal problem, however.

Sharon - And maybe a lost ark or the Holy Grail... You're plainly a stager who thinks outside the box! Thanks for stopping by!

Nov 28, 2009 07:32 AM

Patty Hill, Broker Associate

Local Homes and Land, Inc - Summerville, SC

Local Homes and Land, Inc

Laurie, that is crazy. I hope I don't come across bones with any of my staging jobs. LOL Thanks for sharing.

Nov 28, 2009 07:36 AM

Laurie Calhoun

Gloria Home Staging, Inc. - Winter Springs, FL

Seminole County FL Home Stager

Patty - I wonder what the rest of the house was like, whether it might have contained red flags that would somewhat prepare an unwary stager for what was in the basement. Nah. Nothing could really prepare us for a pile of human bones. Thanks for commenting!

Nov 28, 2009 07:48 AM

Virginia Tatseos

Stage-Show-Sell - Bloomfield Township, MI

Your title caught me.

To those of you who don't have basements

Have you ever heard of skeletons in the closet?

Nov 28, 2009 07:54 AM

Laurie Calhoun

Gloria Home Staging, Inc. - Winter Springs, FL

Seminole County FL Home Stager

Virginia - That's funny! Another good reason to clean out those closets -- I guess we'll all have to proceed with caution! Thanks for dropping in!

Nov 28, 2009 12:45 PM

Cindy Bryant

Redesign Etc. Home Staging - Houston, TX

"Houston Home Staging Pros"

No basements here either. I have been creeped out by a life size Elvis though!

Nov 28, 2009 12:55 PM

Laurie Calhoun

Gloria Home Staging, Inc. - Winter Springs, FL

Seminole County FL Home Stager

Cindy - It seems we're none of us safe from creepy things. Bones and horse heads and Elvis, oh my!

Nov 28, 2009 01:03 PM

Cathy Brosius

Arranged Smartly LLC - Saint Louis, MO

Home Staging St. Louis region

Bones in the basement! I don't know much about Feng Shui, but this can't be helping...

Nov 30, 2009 05:28 AM

Laurie Calhoun

Gloria Home Staging, Inc. - Winter Springs, FL

Seminole County FL Home Stager

Cathy - I hadn't thought about that, but I bet you'd be right. Very bad chi. Thanks for pointing that out!

Nov 30, 2009 08:22 AM

Robert L. Brown

www.mrbrownsellsgr.com - Grand Rapids, MI

Grand Rapids Real Estate Bellabay Realty, West Mic

Sounds like a reality show in the making. Also sounds a bit creepy to me. They should have called that lady on TNT. She could tell you what really happened.

Dec 01, 2009 03:08 AM

Laurie Calhoun

Gloria Home Staging, Inc. - Winter Springs, FL

Seminole County FL Home Stager

Robert - It does sound like something a reality show would be all over. One thing for sure -- I'll bet the authorities were very interested in what really happened! Thanks for commenting!

Dec 01, 2009 08:17 AM