On Sat, 1 Apr 2017 07:34:05 -0700 (PDT), DerbyDad03
wrote:

On Saturday, April 1, 2017 at 10:26:15 AM UTC-4, Michael wrote:
On Saturday, April 1, 2017 at 9:20:31 AM UTC-5, DerbyDad03 wrote:
My neighbor is selling his house. He has a wood shop in his basement, maybe
15 x 25. Table saw, jointer, planer, bandsaw, a couple of workbenches, etc.
The shop is at ground level, with a door to the back yard. Some pretty nice
stuff has come out that shop.

The rest of the basement is unfinished, basically one large room with the
furnace, water heater, washer, dryer and some storage shelves. Oh yeah,
there's a shower stall bathroom in the corner. The basement can be accessed
by stairs from the kitchen or through the shop. They are 2 separate spaces.
It's sloped lot, allowing for a walk-out basement in the rear for the shop.

His realtor has told him that he should empty the shop before showing the
house, so he has moved all of his equipment and material to storage until
his new house is ready.

What are your thoughts? Would you have left the shop as staging or emptied
the room like the realtor suggested? I know we are biased, so maybe we aren't
the right people to ask. ;-) If staging bedrooms and kitchens is all the
rage these days, why not stage a shop?

The rule is empty because it looks bigger and the buyer imagines all his or her stuff in there.

That's not the "rule" we're following as we get my dad's house ready to show.

The realtor has a "stager" on staff that went through the house and told
us what to leave. Beds, a dresser, a small desk in a room that could be an
office, etc. They even have air mattresses, bed frames and other items that
they can set up if you can't leave your own stuff.

DAGS 'staging a house for showing'

Which raises the question, is a shop different? I'd think that if
it's cramped with power tools, thin them out so it appears there is
room to work. Leave some tools and display them nicely, if possible,
but in all cases, "de-junkify".