Open House and a Gun Safe

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Hide it by camouflaging it.

Interested buyers generally must see the house and get its feel before they know whether the house is right for them.
 
Fella's;

Hmmmm, and I bought the home I'm presently in because of an open house. My realtor had only wanted me to see his firm's listings. Then got a little pushy on a home we were mildly interested in. Well, push came to shove & we didn't buy one of his whoopee-ding large-national-franchise listings, found one on my own. Never know about open houses, now do ya?

And my safe's in the garage, but then, it's a true safe. But, Bubba & Cletus are safe. If they try to wheel it out with an appliance dolly, all they're gonna do is break the dolly. If I had a smaller safe, it might land on top of 'em - - - and possibly harm the guns inside.

900F
 
Depends on the market in your area and the value of your home relative to the neighborhood. If you are going to have an open house I would either dolly the safe into a garage or take any of the various excellent suggestions already made.

Coincidentally I signed the papers to sell our house today. Seattle is still fairly "hot" and it is very common for sellers to have multiple offers on a home the day after an open house (we still have "bidding wars" between buyers). I sold without listing, but our situation is a bit different. Goodbye Seattle, hello Bainbridge Island. :D
 
I envy you rwc,well I see people constantly looking around the neighborhood and writing down the signs phone number.I guess in my area people might be waiting to see what happens during storm season.If they are waiting for prices to drop (alot) they'll will be waiting a long time cause most in my area have not dropped prices at all,I did a little but if they think there will be a 20% drop or something I dont think sellers will want to go that low.

Fact is others in my area have open house so they see my sign,if interested call my realtor.Sundays are precious to me to waste it on a open house.

I wont move my safe to the garage and risk damaging my tile I spent enuff money fixing up the house,its the risk I take selling my home and its a big safe so I feel fairly confident.
 
Zundfolge said:
Go reread my post. You can't necessarily trust Realtors nor their buyers just because they've been prequalified for a loan.
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10-4.

My brother and sister-in-law both have good jobs, no kids, and no significant debts. They can easily qualify to buy about anything short of a bona fide mansion. They are not even remotely interested in buying a house, they just moved into a new one about three years ago ... but their weekend relaxation is going to open houses to see how other people live.

To be avoided at all costs. Especially since, at least in this neck of the woods, the realtors DON'T want the owner at home during an open house. :confused:
 
Erebus, I'm a realtor. Open houses are a 99 times out of 100 a waste of time for everyone but the realtor.

We use it as a marketing ploy. Not for the public. But to get you to sign with us. We come to your house with a "listing" presentation. We tell you we'll have a typical open house plus a "brokers" open house in order to make you think these are positives in marketing your home.

The truth is, open houses are to enable us to hand out business cards to prospective buyers. Buyers who, statistically, will not buy your home.

That's what they're for, viz., to market the realtor. Not the house.

Protect your peace of mind. Tell your realtor you don't want an open house.

If it's going to sell, it will sell without it.
 
Real glad I posted cause I was thinking an open house was just a normal part of selling a house and that i was just going to have to deal with it. Will tell the realtor to nix the idea if it is suggested.

Hoping whoever buys it wants the safe. Will give me an excuse to buy a bigger one.

My father is a professional woodworker and he said he could build a thing that would slide over it from the front and make it look like a big cabinet. I was actually thinking about taking him up on it and putting it there permanently once I have settled. Never liked the way it looked in the room. Prefer the look for warm wood to cold metal in a room.
 
I was thinking an open house was just a normal part of selling a house
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There's very little that is the "normal part" of selling a house. We want you to think that because that is how we do business.

Educate yourself. This is one area where you don't want to be the "babe in the woods." You've too much money at stake.
 
I have sold three houses without any open houses. A good realtor will admit that open houses are given to get new clients, not sell your house.

Read your contract, it probably says that they can conduct an open house, so have that deleted. But even without a public open house they may want a realtors only open house.

My safe is in a locked closet in the basement. I don't want anyone to see it at any time. I would take your father's offer to hide the safe whether you have an open house or not.
 
I was once A licensed Real Estate salesman and the company I worked for, and most of the companies in this area, found that open houses were virtually ineffectual and do not do them. They were a waste of time. That way the only public people that enter your home are prospective buyers accompanied by an agent or yourself. An open house gives any and all viewers a chance to steal your stuff, unless you have someone in each room, and even then, theft is a concern.
 
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I don't know anybody personally who has sold their house from having an open house.
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That's how ours sold. Our real estate agent was a big believer in open houses. She had us do an open house the first weekend the house was on the market. One of the visitors at the open house made an offer mid-week the next week.
 
+1 to hiding perscriptions, I'd throw them in the safe. My mom used to be a real estate agent and she told me stories of "rogue agents" (haha) stealing people's perscriptions and valuables.
 
Open houses don't sell houses. VERY VERY few homes are ever sold at open house.

Open houses get contacts and leads for the real estate agent selling the house.

If the safe is a big concern for you, skip the open house.
 
------quote--------
I don't know anybody personally who has sold their house from having an open house.
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That's how ours sold. Our real estate agent was a big believer in open houses. She had us do an open house the first weekend the house was on the market. One of the visitors at the open house made an offer mid-week the next week.
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I'd say the number one fallacy of logic that people fall into is thinking that Correlation = Cause. :p

$10 says your house would have sold just as fast without the open house (and possibly to the same buyer).

Hoping whoever buys it wants the safe. Will give me an excuse to buy a bigger one.
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In some markets a safe would be a big selling point...also if the safe is bolted down it may be considered part of the house, so if you don't want it to go with the house you need to make sure its specifically listed in the exclusions part of a contract.
 
That's how ours sold.
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Your house sold because it was priced right and in a good location.

If it was priced too high, nothing would have sold it. It did sell, therefore was priced right. The open house made no difference. It would have sold regardless.
 
Your house sold because it was priced right and in a good location.
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This isnt necessarily the case these days, at least around here. We actually priced our house slightly lower than the others in the area. Every realtor that came through said the price was good in their feed back, as did 99% of the people that went through that bothered to fill out the feed back. Every house that was up for sale in the area dropped their prices, some more than once, and by a good bit too. The market had already tanked by the time we put ours up and the others had been up a good bit longer, at least 4-6 months or more. Some sold, most havent, and we were VERY lucky ours did when it did. Its definitely now a buyers market and these days, unless your selling a LOT lower than everyone else, your going to sit with them. In the 16 years we lived there, we made basically no money at all on our house. The values seemed to remain pretty much level until the last year. Then the developers and yuppies found our formally "rural" area. In late summer 2005, the values doubled during the frenzy and existing houses were selling in a week and new houses and subdivisions were springing up everywhere.


As for the safe, if you dont want to deal with moving it, you may luck out if someone wants it. Its a pretty narrow market, but you never know, it may help with the sale. We left a 16 year old washer and dryer and fridge when we sold. They didnt owe us anything and we had already bought new stuff anyway, and it did help as a selling point.

Maybe tell them it was there when you bought the house, you dont know whats in it and never bothered to try and open it. Make it a mystery and maybe it will help. :)
 
In some markets a safe would be a big selling point...also if the safe is bolted down it may be considered part of the house, so if you don't want it to go with the house you need to make sure its specifically listed in the exclusions part of a contract.
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This works both ways. If you're planning on leaving anything behind, you better disclose that as well.

I've had two jobs this last year that involved moving safes which were left behind out of homes. In both cases the new buyers had threatened to sue the sellers.

If it stays, you need to say it stays in the contract. If it goes, you need to say it goes in the contract.
 
Full size gun safe?
Do what I did...cover it with a refrigerator box.
Hard part is finding one.
Try folks that you know that are new to town. They often are buying a new fridge and will give you the box.
Blaze
 
If it stays, you need to say it stays in the contract. If it goes, you need to say it goes in the contract.
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Good point.

I've had two jobs this last year that involved moving safes which were left behind out of homes. In both cases the new buyers had threatened to sue the sellers.
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How much does it cost to move a safe?

Maybe I should ask my realtor how often this happens ... I could swoop in and offer some poor buyer who has this safe to get rid of the cost of moving it to have it moved to my house :)
 
Zund;

I'd suggest contacting both a professional mover and a SAVTA lockshop in your area & asking them the same question. SAVTA stands for Safe And Vault Technicians Assn., a SAVTA shop should be equipped to move a safe. Prices vary widely throughout the country. I know in your area, I'd be considered dirt cheap.

900F
 
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