We're downsizing and selling our way-to-big-for-us house. Found a hotshot agent that specializes in houses our size. At our first meeting, all was going well with the tour, until we got to my 650 square foot trophy room (with about 40-head of African, American and European mounts on the walls).

The agent immediately recoiled and exclaimed, "these need to go!"

Taken by surprise, I said, "why?"

"Because over half the people we show to will be offended by this," he said. "You don't want to cut out half your potential buyers right off the bat!"

Without hesitation I said, "No. No. Hell No! If I offend a potential buyer, then so be it. I'm not going to hide what I am, and what I do from people like I'm ashamed of it. Sell it with the trophies on the wall, or I'll get someone else who will."

What would Y'all do in a similar situation?

Pretty standard...they are just trying to help you out. Guess it depends how badly you want to sell.

You can see most of the room in this thread. I get kind of teary just thinking about taking it all down!

http://forums.accuratereloadin...=113100737#113100737

Was in the same boat with out last house. Agent informed us of the exact senerio. They stayed where they were and the house sold for above ask...funny how things work.

I was told the same thing when I wanted to sell my house in Fresno. I refused and sold it 2 months later for full price. One funny thing happened though. Agent brought a Hindu couple to see the house. They walked into the trophy room, saw all the dead heads, and promptly ran out of the house shouting something about bad karma and deceased ancestors. I thought it was hilarious

You are going to take the heads down before you move. Today, tomorrow, or next week what is most important to you. You are paying the agent for advice, but you do not need to take it.

Bravo! I would do the very same.

It’s not as though your taxidermy is included in the sale!

I often wonder how we have come to this sad state of affairs.

Liberal virus with no known cure

Most good agents advise to un-clutter a house to make it look roomier if the house has an abundance of photos, ornaments etc. Same in kitchen and bathroom, don't have a lot of utensils and 'junk' cluttering up what are usually already smaller rooms.
Similarly don't have pets and pet accessories e.g. beds etc., lounging around.

You are there to sell your house and most often first impressions count. You have engaged an agent to give advise and get the best outcome for you. Your choice to listen or not and you will be moving all your possessions in the end anyway.

You don't have to listen to advise from the professionals but why engage them in the first place if you don't listen.

BTW I'm not in real estate but have built, brought and sold a few houses. The focus is on selling, not showing your life style which buyers don't give a hoot about.

I would get rid of it and my real estate agent said the same when I asked her to see my house in case I ever wanted to rent it out.

You see more houses in TX and country houses with it.

If the market is hot it may not matter. If the market it soft or the geographic area is nyc ect or the House is very high dollar price - best to be neutral.

Mike

I packed all of mine up and out for the potential buyers. Need to sell. No big deal.

your moving them anyway, an office or den looking extra room gets buyers thinking about THEIR personal wants and they start seeing themselves in their new house.

much like us gun guy's get when we see that one rifle 3 tables down and then actually start holding it in our hands and negotiating price.
we know we're gonna buy it, it's just a matter of those last 50 dollars.

IMO a good, reliable real estate agent will "cull" the potential buyers who might be offended by the trophies.

Realtor is just spouting conventional wisdom.

When we sold up in Oregon, the guy who bought the place really liked the fact that we had two rooms with high ceilings so he could hang HIS trophies, and he especially liked the concealed gun room so he could store HIS guns in there.

Kinda like a tennis court. Not everyone plays tennis but not every home has a tennis court. Why tear up the tennis court?

You only need one buyer. And the right buyer will pay for the unique features of the house. Tell the realtor to take a hike, she's an amateur.

+1

They are coming down anyway. If sooner will make a sale so be it.
Cal

About 25 yrs ago we were wanting to buy
another place, or thought we did.

I've built a big, high walled brick/stuccoed shop. Agent the wife called said: "that
monstrocity has to be torn down, it's just too big for a garage".

I told him: " I think the best thing is for you to just get the hell out of here before I
get mad". Shocked, not a word, turned and left.

That's how I feel about, and trophies on the
wall too. That decided me we didn't want to
move anyway. She died 15yrs ago, I'm still in
the place yet. and hopefully when they come to bag me up, I'll be either in the house, yard or shop.

George

quote:

Originally posted by tsibindi:
IMO a good, reliable real estate agent will "cull" the potential buyers who might be offended by the trophies.

Why would you want buyers ‘culled’?

You’re selling a house, not trying to score political points!

Selling a home is normally a business transaction where you want to receive the largest return on your investment. I have been in the high end residential/land real estate business for quite awhile. I always believe in removing anything that could be a negative/objection. Unless you are in a very high demand market where you will receive multiple offers when you first list your home, I recommend you take down your trophies. I took my trophies down prior to selling my last home. I have had clients just walk around gawking at the mounts really never paying attention to the design/features of the home. Parents with children, it turns into show and tell. I have had clients turn around and walk out of a home so fast they never saw more than the great room where the taxidermy was. It is usually best to have the home free from any personalization, even family photos. Many times your first offer will be your best and once the home gets beyond 60 days you will probably be negotiating downward. Always best to error on the side of high percentages rather than deal with overcoming an unneeded objection. Good luck with the sale of your home.

Leon, you know my background, and what your agent is telling you is just what agents are taught in Real Estate 101.

Having had to deal with removing a room full of trophies for a move (house sold with them on the wall), I know that being advised to "just take them down" involves a serious amount of work--and money, if you don't already have the next house in possession. You'll likely have to rent space somewhere and go through the hassle of moving them twice.

Having said that, the comment that it depends on the market is probably true. I've been out of the Atlanta real estate market for almost 15 years, so I have no clue how homes in your area are selling. You may want to ask your agent to show you the "sold" data for your neighborhood/price range, and pay particular attention to the average number of days homes stay on the market before selling. What's the ratio of list price to sales price? Also ask for data on homes that were listed but didn't sell.

Bottom line: if properties are selling fast and close to or at/above list price, don't worry about taking your trophies down. If the market is slow, you may need to consider "neutralizing" your home.

Just my opinion. I could be wrong.

My parents sold their house in Casper, Wyoming about 5 years ago.


Agent said the same thing, old man boxed them up and dropped them in my sister's garage. House sold the next day.


I don't think it is a time fight political correctness, you aren't going to educate anyone on hunting.

If you have a trophy room, you are not selling a house. You are selling a house with a trophy room. May as well emphasize that, as your most likely buyer is going to be a guy who wants a house with a trophy room. Others are not going to pay the premium for something they don't need.

If it's a "normal" house with a few trophies hung here and there, I can see taking them down. Unless you live in Texas where people have not lost their ability to think for themselves, thank God.

It does cost an arm to move trophies. I was quoted $11,000 for my move plus $12,000 extra for the trophies. Fortunately I kept most of the crates they came in (I had a big barn) so I was able to recrate them myself. I got a couple of "gaylord boxes" and used those for the few that had no crate. Ended up costing me about $1000 as once they are crated, it's just extra weight and they don't weigh very much. You can also put pillows, cushions and the like in the crates.

Unfortunately, new home does not have a trophy room so some of my trophies are still in the crates. If it had a trophy room, I would have upped my offer.

And one more thing ... in the internet age realtors are really unnecessary. Put your home on Zillow and save yourself the hassle and headache of dealing with a realtor. Most of them spend more time figuring out how to get you to lower your price than how to sell your home.

When we were house shopping last year one house out of about 40 we looked at had trophies in it. The seller happened to be home and I spent most of the time talking to him abut the trophies.
Killer house and we would have bought it but it didn't have any room for our horses.
To each his own.

To be completely honest, I am just plain not ready to cut the emotional tie to that room! The new, (yet to be determined) house will be much smaller, and will have no dedicated trophy room. My trophies will be scattered here and yonder, with most relegated to the basement great room (assuming it has one, which I'm holding out for).

I built this house in 1989, and the trophy room in 2004. The very thought of leaving either sends me into deep depression.

My trophies, including a full mount leopard, are in my office. As I occasionally meet with clients there I was concerned about how they might react.

Over the last five years, most people ask where I got the "Cheetah" and want to hear all about going on safari. One person questioned whether leopards are endangered. I took the opportunity to explain hunting as a driver for conservation and the benefits to rural people from hunters fees. He seemed to accept what I said and was rethinking his beliefs about hunting.

So, my experience suggests that the politically correct avoidance of anything related to hunting isn't justified by the reaction of most people.

I get the "Cheetah" thing all the time, too. Like you, I have to explain the difference and the conservation ethic behind the hunt.

Well, I've got someone coming to look at the house today at one because of the trophy room. A neighbor down the street told them about in and said it would be perfect for their family. Not sure what this means, but here's hoping!

You did the right thing. Enough of this being offended BS. The residential real estate market nationwide is pretty hot. As an appraiser every so often I inspect a home that has a trophy room. Trust me when I say there is no diminution in value due to the existence of a trophy room full of mounts.

If it were convenient I would go ahead and take them down, otherwise, I would do as the OP.

But I have enough money, I don't have to sell my old house before buying a new house.

If I really needed to make the sale quickly, I would go ahead and box them up.

The world is full of idiots, some of them with a lot of money. Fact of life.

BH63

GAHUNTER

It took me 4 years to sell my last house in the middle of the recession. Never even got an offer until I actually sold it to a couple with a cash offer. I was also advised to take down the trophies which were all through the house. I did not and I couldn't imagine being without them for 4 full years. The realtor was correct and as 4WD said some people will be turned off by the trophies and some may be distracted by them. I guess you have to figure out what is important to you and how quickly you want to sell the house.

Mark

Way to stick to your guns GAHUNTER. Best of luck selling your house. I can't imagine it would offend many people in the good ol' boy South, just as it doesn't here. What offends me is how butt hurt some of these snowflakes get. I wouldn't take a single solitary one of my mounts or rugs out of the house just because some wuss doesn't like it. That goes for my "ex" real estate agent as well.

This seems to be a personal choice.

Do you want to sell the house or do you want to defend your personal pride and position on hunting?

Lots of people above have just done what is needed to sell the house quickly. Others have sold despite having trophies on the wall.

My father built his house specifically to have trophies. He has less than two handfuls of windows with about 6ksf. Most walls have 3/4” plywood behind nice wood to support the mounts. If he ever sells it, the buyer will likely be a single, older bachelor that hunts.

It's a business transaction. You're selling your house not your trophies or point if view. Some potential buyers can't see past what's hanging on your wall. Years ago I was looking at a house for sale in Dallas, it had lots of homoerotic art on the walls and a red toilet in the middle of the master bedroom. I had trouble looking at the bricks and sticks.

I think a few things are factors here.
Are you in a hot market?
Are you in an area where a trophy room is not all that uncommon?
If you're going to downsize anyway, are you going to retain / re-mount all the animals?
If you're going to dispose of some anyway, why make the realtors job more difficult, or rule out a certain segment of buyers?
I've always been told "Sellers are selling memories, buyers are looking for accommodations".
If you're really looking to sell, minimize the difficulties.

I've never been a trophy hunter as such, will shoot what presents itself for meat, head or in earlier times money (sell meat and accessories such as tail, eye teeth and pizzle). What few heads I have kept are just horns/antlers on skulls and hanging in shed.

Don't have anything against those that like collecting trophies but get turned off a little when I see a whole room chock full of stuff where trophy hunting has become almost like hoarding. Nevertheless that is others choice to make. If buying a house a trophy room would not put me off, I would see the room as perhaps a second lounge, another bedroom whatever.

However for those that are not hunters a room full of ex live animal heads and bodies can be just one big turn off and while you may be making a point that this is my hobby, my choice, potential buyers can also take the same attitude.

First rule of selling real estate, get as many people through the door and sow the seed that this could be their home, the more the better.

The agent is right.

Why piss off 50% of your potential buyers to make a point.

You are going to have to pack them up anyway.

It's business, not sentiment.

If you were really ready to move, taking them down would be the smart thing to do and no issue. Are you sure you really want to move?

I see you have a lot cheerleaders with no financial skin in your game.

This is is an emotional reaction to a commercial situation. I have been in oil trading for about 20 years. We absolutely love situations like this, where people make emotional decisions over logical commercial actions.

quote:

Originally posted by tsibindi:
IMO a good, reliable real estate agent will "cull" the potential buyers who might be offended by the trophies.

So a "good" real estate agent is going to reduce the number of legitimate buyers??? That is the most ridicules thing I've seen in a while.