Dolls out when selling the house?

@davri I didnt even know this website was a thing! There go my next 2 hours...

Anyway. I agree with others that I would put my dolls away. I'm also pretty trusting in terms of theft, but people do bring children, and some adults may not have boundaries as well. At least thoroughly check your dolls after each viewing to make sure they weren't disturbed.

There is also the fact that all realtor sites say to get rid of anything personal. They say it helps to sell faster.

Just my 2 cents.

 

I wouldn't leave them out. Not only does that raise the chance of them getting stolen by people going through looking around, but a lot of times people bring their kids with them. Put the dolls in boxes and put them in the closet or something, somewhere it'd take a long time to get to and out of view.

Plus I've done that before when my family was selling the house, all the rooms had to be looking as neat and generic as possible whenever it was getting ready to be shown to potential buyers.

 

@davri thank you for those links... I think.

 

I've heard it's a good idea to make the home as neutral as possible and with as few personal affects as you can. I guess because people have a hard time visualizing themselves in the space if all they can see is someone else's things.

 

I would definitely put them away, especially since some people think dolls are creepy. You don't want them to associate the house with something that puts them off. It would also be distracting.

When we sold my old house, our finches and guinea pigs had to go stay with a friend. We got comments from multiple people that they loved the house but didn't like the birds (which, of course, would be leaving with us).

 

I would put them away. Some people freak out over dolls and overreact. I work at Spencers and we sell Chucky dolls, and I've seen a grown adult trip over their own feet and knock over a display because they saw the doll. Of course, our BJDs are much more beautiful than creepy to us, but someone with a doll phobia might disagree, and it would be devastating to have your entire display damaged by someone like this. I've also seen people grab the doll and hand it to their toddlers to carry around to distract them.

Which reminds me, as kids, my sister and I had a couple of plastic cockroaches we used to hide around our house to scare my mom. When my parents were trying to sell the house, we had left one of them on a dresser, and nearly lost the buyer over it! Luckily, it was in my room, and I was there to explain the situation, and they did end up buying the house. But what's normal to you might be uncomfortable for potential buyers, so it's best to hide anything to out of the ordinary. Do you have any local family or friends who could store them at their place until you sell the house?

 

For staging purposes, I would go as minimalistic and impersonal as possible so that you get your sale as quickly as possible and for the best price. When I've sold homes in the past I always put away collectibles and family photos for exactly that reason. Clever buyers can look past those things, but you want to appeal to as many buyers as possible, including the ones who won't be able to see past the dolls (or whatever other personal item).

I honestly wouldn't be too worried about damage or theft though. When I've been a renter at the end of lease I have had dolls out when people viewed the property (since I didn't have the same investment in de-personalizing), and I always felt confident that if something broke after a showing, the showing realtor would take responsibility. So I've never been particularly concerned at that end.

 

I would put away any really personal things that might distract or sidetrack potential buyers so I'd pack up dolls and doll things. I think well-staged houses can sell easier and faster.

 

I've never sold a house but I'd be scared to leave ANYTHING out, even a magazine. I don't trust people, man. lol When I moved out of my apartment and bought a house, my landlord wouldn't wait for me to get out before he started showing the apartment to people. I was like, "I do NOT want people in here while I'm trying to pack! I don't want them around my things!" And he was basically like, "Too bad. It's my property." I was extremely upset and insisted my wife or myself be present to keep an eye on our things. It still makes me mad to think about, even though they were just old ladies coming to look at the place and I wouldn't have anything they'd be interested in. I'm not at all comfortable with strangers, anyway, and for them to have access to my stuff while I'm not present. Nope! Not having it!

 

They do. It's why some people even hire professional stagers. I know far too much about this, real estate is my Adulty Jorb. People tend to recall a property's most notable traits as they make their decision and if yours is, in their mind, "The Weird Doll House" it is not as likely to be "The Home of My Mainstream Middleclass Dreams". You want staging to be as middle of the road mainstream plainly magazine housey as possible.

 

Myself personally I would hang a sheet inside the cabinet to cover the dolls for the show... I love them dearly, but an overwhelmingabout if people are uncomfortable or afraid of dolls that’s to movies and television.. I have a friend who refuses to come to my house even if I put the dolls away because she ‘still knows they’re here’

 

We’re going to be selling my house soon so this is a super helpful thread! I didn’t even think of if I’d have to put my dolls away.

 

I cannot speak first hand about this as I have never sold a house. I do think that I would put my dolls away if they were not secured in glass cases. I would not want anyone touching my dolls. Also, I know that some people do not like dolls or are afraid of them. This might prevent a possible buyer from considering my house.

 

@davri thank you for making my evening xD The room that you showed amazes me too: how can you have so many things in one place and not have any mess? wow...

I would just hide all doll-related items. First, people may be scared. Second, they may like them too much and break/steal something. Third, they just may not feel like at home. It has to be de-personalised to appeal to many people with varied preferences

 

Bought my house recently, and the ones we visited were fairly empty due to how busy our local market is, which was a lot easier on us as buyers.
I have helped family prepping their houses to sell in the past. I would not leave anything out that counts as "personal". As was already stated in the thread, you want to clear out as much as possible and make it so the buyers can try to picture themselves in the home. Selling your home is not an appropriate time to leave a showcase out, or personal effects.

My parents move a few times over a few years (couldn't get settled I guess), we had to remove all photos, most art pieces (we'd leave a few up in specific accent places and such), try to put up neutral bed covers, and even pull some of the excess chairs and such so it looked more open. Then we'd still have to pack up all the small animals (dogs and cats) when we'd be showing so neither the visitors nor the animals would get hurt/scared, and we'd still get offers from buyers who thought the horses were included!

I think we spent more time moving personal effects to storage than it ever took to sell the darned places, but clearing out out does that.

 

Interesting photos. Had a good laugh. The 2nd photo remind me of a museum I once visited. The Mercer Museum and Fonthill Castle I was just discussing about it with another DOA member in the thread " The most interesting place you visited with your doll". It had exhibits stuck on every wall and ceiling. The 2nd photo of the play room is decorated along those lines. If every room in that house look like this, that seller/owner must have been a fan of the Mercer Museum. The owner did not hang enough artifacts/deco from the ceiling. There's a lot of empty space on the ceiling.

The 2nd photo also reminded me of the Japanese anime Howls Moving Castle. Howl's bedroom was a mess like that with toys hanging all over the place. I once aspired to do up my bedroom like Howl's room but I was not untidy enough. It's also expensive to fill the room with collectibles. Too bad that 2nd photo in this thread did not show a bedroom.

Now, I would remove all my dolls if I put the house up for sale, it's for safety. Besides, not everybody likes dolls.

 

Definitely hide them away. Many people are weirdly freaked out by collector dolls of any kind. And some people have light fingers. I once had a knife stolen from my home during a showing! People are freaking weird.