WWYD: living in a rented house while it is on the market...(Religious content)

[Little Nyssa]

Hi all! We are renting a house which is about to be put on the market. We don't mind it being sold, since we will be moving out when our lease ends in 2 months.

 

Tomorrow the landlord's realtor is coming over to do a walk-through.

We have a lot of religious artwork on the walls. It's not really cluttered with religious items, but there it is, rather prominently on the walls. The artwork is very central to our religious life, it is not just nice pictures for us. They are quiet and tasteful, IMHO. But if I belonged to a different religion, I might be put off from the house.

 

Is the realtor likely to tell us to take it down so the house will be less "personal" and more likely to sell? Does a realtor or landlord have a right to tell you to remove religious art or items? It it were you, and you were told to take it down, did you? Would you? Would you be accommodating in hopes the house will sell faster, or would you refuse? WWYD?

 

FWIW DH is very much opposed to taking anything down.

 

Obviously this is hypothetical, since the realtor has not been here yet, but I wanted to get some thoughts from the Hive in advance. Thanks!!!

[pageta]

I would say you are renters and the realtor should tell any prospective buyers that. Renters should not be expected to stage the home other than keeping it clean and tidy.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I would say you are renters and the realtor should tell any prospective buyers that. Renters should not be expected to stage the home other than keeping it clean and tidy.

 

:iagree:

[kolamum]

I would NOT take it down. :)

 

Why? Because I was in this situation too & the thought NEVER crossed my mind. Not once. Seriously. While I was renting I did consider it "my home" as in I took the same care & love for the home that I would have had I been the official owner. In fact, I cried when it was time to move on. I'm lame, I know.

 

Anyway, I never considered any of it hanging there. We had posters for Bible lessons we learned, we had verses we were memorising hanging on mirrors, etc. No one said anything to us until one man & his wife came through. The man asked where we went to church, I told him at that time we weren't attending a church. He was shocked then tried to sell me on his son's new church that had just started up in our area. I found his behaviour far more maddening then he found my posters on the wall. :lol:

 

The fellow went so far as to LEAVE with the agent & then turn around & come back up with pamphlets for the church. While I respect what he was doing & was aware of the new church & was curious about what they believed & all that it just left me with a, "this isn't right" kinda feeling. Perhaps that's me.

 

Anyway, we were never asked to take anything down off the wall. In fact the relator who'd walk them through walked in on us in "classes" once and said, "Now this is ... & her children ...." then he says, "Now we must not disturb their lessons or she might send us to the principle. :lol:

[Harriet Vane]

I would say you are renters and the realtor should tell any prospective buyers that. Renters should not be expected to stage the home other than keeping it clean and tidy.

 

:iagree:

[Samiam]

They don't have a right to tell you to take it down, unless you are not allowed to hang pictures per your lease.

 

Any realtor has to know that they can not control the condition etc of the house with renters in it. It's just one of the cons of selling a house while it is rented. Any realtor who shows the house will also prep their buyers in advance, letting them know it is currently rented.

 

It's not like a owner-occupied house or an empty house, where they will stage it to show it at it's full pontential. That is not expected when you have a tenant.

 

I personally would not go to one extra effort to help it sell. Not saying I would make it worse, just that it's nothing to me if it sells or doesn't sell. I would continue to live in it as I would normally do (and in my case, it's already presentable). I mean, I may hide my dirty clothes, and wipe down the bathroom more often, type of stuff, but I am certainly not going to rearrnage my life to the owner can sell quicker.

[Parrothead]

I agree with everyone else. We went through that once and it never crossed my mind to do anything other than clean.

[Brilliant]

We are currently renting a house from someone of another faith. It was obvious when we saw the house, because of some items on display. It didn't bother us at all. I don't think you should be expected to take anything down, and if somebody asks you to, give them a shocked "I beg your pardon?"

[EKS]

If you were the owners, then I would say that the real estate agent is doing her job in telling you that religious items can be off-putting to potential home buyers. But as you are a renter, I would be surprised if she were to say anything.

Edited April 30, 2012 by EKS

[MamaAkins]

If you're paying rent and not breaking any rules of your lease, then you should be able to leave your belongings up and visible while the house is on the market. If they want you to take down your religious pictures, you could ask them to release you from the remaining time on your lease.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Though I think it is fine to do as you please as you are renters, I most certainly WOULD take down a lot of

stuff *we* have up and would with such things as you describe if I felt it could possibly be off-putting.

We have a lot of school stuff up I would take down if the owners of our rental were to want to sell. Some

things in the kids' rooms could be taken down. I'd take the stuff off the fridge. It wouldn't be staged

really, but it could be a lot more impersonal so the people could consider their own needs.

[Reflections]

If you are not in violation of the agreement you have with the owner, you do not have to take it down. But, if the landlord is coming with the realtor to look over the home, which he should, you need to ask the landlord what the the "showing instructions" are going to be for the home. By rights, they should ask you what is agreeable for you and your family. Should it be appointment only through the realtor? Or is it call you directly to arrange a time? Surely it will NOT be just show up and show the house. Secondly, be aware that once that sign goes up you will get people stopping to see if someone is home who could show it NOW. And you could get very pushy realtors who will claim they couldn't get through to make an appointment and who just took a chance that they wouldn't mind having it just shown anyway.

 

IMO I would ask for the realtor to put a "by appointment" only sign on the sign, unless you don't mind any of the other options. There will be plenty of time for the owner to sell it as "vacant with lockbox" since you are moving in a paltry 2 months.

[KungFuPanda]

If I were moving in two months I'd be packing anyway and there's no harm in starting with non-essentials like wall art.

[OnTheBrink]

I would say you are renters and the realtor should tell any prospective buyers that. Renters should not be expected to stage the home other than keeping it clean and tidy.

 

When we were renters and the place was up for sale, we didn't change a thing about our place. Well, we did keep it clean a lot more! LOL All perspective buyers knew we were on a lease and weren't moving (it was a duplex and the owners were moving out of their side and selling the whole building).

[Mergath]

Nope. Other than keep the house at a reasonable degree of cleanness, you don't have to do a thing.

 

I went through this when dd was a newborn. Our landlord decided he was going to try and sell (he never did manage to and finally gave up) and I had people walking through at all hours with little to no notice. I was not, shall we say, very accomodating. I would outright tell prospective buyers, "Do not go in that bedroom, I JUST got my baby to sleep and if you wake her up God himself will not be able to help you."

 

Landlord never said a word, and he was there.

 

As long as you're paying the rent, you're under no obligation to cater to your landlord's desires as far as staging the place or whatnot. It's still your home.

[Pretty in Pink]

You are only under obligation to meet the terms of your lease. I assume it states that you will not live like pigs. Beyond that you have no obligation to do anything to get the home "show ready".

 

We are dealing with the same thing right now. It's a real pain. People are seeing the home listed online and just driving by, parking out front, walking around our yard and looking in our windows. Um...it's odd. Someone stopped yesterday and asked if she could come in and look around. We declined. A couple stopped by today and knocked and asked if they could just take a peek. Again, we declined and told them to call the realtor to schedule a viewing.

[Jennifer3141]

You are only under obligation to meet the terms of your lease. I assume it states that you will not live like pigs. Beyond that you have no obligation to do anything to get the home "show ready".

 

We are dealing with the same thing right now. It's a real pain. People are seeing the home listed online and just driving by, parking out front, walking around our yard and looking in our windows. Um...it's odd. Someone stopped yesterday and asked if she could come in and look around. We declined. A couple stopped by today and knocked and asked if they could just take a peek. Again, we declined and told them to call the realtor to schedule a viewing.

 

 

Who does that?!?! Who goes to an inhabited home and just asks to go in?? What kind of nut would you have to be to just allow strangers to go strolling in??? :001_huh:

[ThisIsTheDay]

Does a realtor or landlord have a right to tell you to remove religious art or items? It it were you, and you were told to take it down, did you? Would you? Would you be accommodating in hopes the house will sell faster, or would you refuse? WWYD?

 

FWIW DH is very much opposed to taking anything down.

 

Obviously this is hypothetical, since the realtor has not been here yet, but I wanted to get some thoughts from the Hive in advance. Thanks!!!

 

No, the realtor and/or landlord has absolutely no right to tell, or even ask, you to remove religious art or items. I would kindly decline to accommodate such request, although I might consider it for a significant (50%) reduction in rent. ;)

 

It is kind and helpful to make some sort of effort to keep the house picked up. That means different things to different people. I would not alter my lifestyle much. Who has time to do that? You don't have a vested interest in selling the house, so why go to an extreme effort? Your first priority is your family. (Just thinking of how crazy things got when we were selling a house gives me a bit of a headache!)

 

.

[Mommyof4ks]

I would say you are renters and the realtor should tell any prospective buyers that. Renters should not be expected to stage the home other than keeping it clean and tidy.

 

:iagree:

[StephanieZ]

What would you do if YOU owned the home and YOU needed to sell it, and knew that having religious items would likely make it harder to sell, and thus possibly cost you thousands of dollars (or worse) if you waited until you moved out to remove the artwork. Indeed, if you owned it, you might not be able to afford to move at all until it was sold, so the choice might be take-it-down or sell-it-for-20k-less or not-sell-it-and-get-foreclosed.

 

So, if the landlord has treated you respectfully and fairly, then, personally, I think the right thing to do is to be helpful in all reasonable ways. So, I'd take down the artwork and go ahead and pack it (and other personal photos, etc) for the move. You're moving in 2 months anyway, so you need to get packing. Might as well start with your most precious items.

 

Now, if you feel a religious requirement to have one or two items (family altar, whatever) in the home, then, of course, I think that is OK, but I would imagine that most religions would allow for you to pack those items away for a couple months, or at least to stash them in a cupboard when the home is being shown.

 

Be nice. Landlords are people too.

[8circles]

What would you do if YOU owned the home and YOU needed to sell it, and knew that having religious items would likely make it harder to sell, and thus possibly cost you thousands of dollars (or worse) if you waited until you moved out to remove the artwork. Indeed, if you owned it, you might not be able to afford to move at all until it was sold, so the choice might be take-it-down or sell-it-for-20k-less or not-sell-it-and-get-foreclosed.

 

So, if the landlord has treated you respectfully and fairly, then, personally, I think the right thing to do is to be helpful in all reasonable ways. So, I'd take down the artwork and go ahead and pack it (and other personal photos, etc) for the move. You're moving in 2 months anyway, so you need to get packing. Might as well start with your most precious items.

 

Now, if you feel a religious requirement to have one or two items (family altar, whatever) in the home, then, of course, I think that is OK, but I would imagine that most religions would allow for you to pack those items away for a couple months, or at least to stash them in a cupboard when the home is being shown.

 

Be nice. Landlords are people too.

:iagree:

 

 

I don't think anyone can or should require or pressure you to remove religious/personal artwork from the space that you rent. However, barring a *requirement* that you have it, I think it would be unkind to not remove it if removing it would make selling easier.

 

I almost think leaving it there just because "its your right to keep it there" makes it seem as if you're trying to put on a show of your religion. General you, not specific.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I'm sorry, but I do not understand why people would be so stupid as to let art work that they know is not permanently on the walls influence a sale. I wouldn't let a Buddhist altar upset me or any other religious symbol even if I felt like it was offensive personally to me take away my common sense.

[8circles]

I'm sorry, but I do not understand why people would be so stupid as to let art work that they know is not permanently on the walls influence a sale. I wouldn't let a Buddhist altar upset me or any other religious symbol even if I felt like it was offensive personally to me take away my common sense.

 

I don't get it either but I can't deny that it makes a great deal of difference to many people.

[Little Nyssa]

Thank you all for these comments-- this is the conversation I wanted to be having, to think this through. I appreciate them all.:001_smile:

[Julie in CA]

Well, fwiw, my religious values would require me to put kindness to others ahead of display of "things", so that would preclude me leaving them up, if I thought it might in any way make the transition/sale harder for the person who owns the home. Definitely people before things.

 

Whatever legal rights I might have to leave the images up, my responsibility to my neighbor would preclude doing so.

 

Your particular religious values might not place things in that order though, so my opinion probably does you no good. :001_smile:

[gardenmom5]

Is the realtor likely to tell us to take it down so the house will be less "personal" and more likely to sell? !

 

realtors tell sellers to put away family pictures to make a space less personal, so I would expect they will ask you to put away your religious pictures. they will also ask them to put away "special collections".

what you do depends upon what kind of relationship you want with the seller/landlord. things could become very unpleasant if you do things do things to impede interest from potential buyers.

[gardenmom5]

I'm sorry, but I do not understand why people would be so stupid as to let art work that they know is not permanently on the walls influence a sale. I wouldn't let a Buddhist altar upset me or any other religious symbol even if I felt like it was offensive personally to me take away my common sense.

 

most people have a very hard time imagining themselves in a space. by depersonalizing it, it enables a potential buyer to imagine themselves living within a space. most people do not have the capacity to see beyond the "things" cluttering a space. buyers who can imagine themselves living withing a space are far more likely to make an offer than a buyer who only sees clutter. (again, most buyers only see surfaces.)

 

a space that is esthetically decorated will get faster and better offers than the same space full of junk.

Edited April 30, 2012 by gardenmom5

[chepyl]

Having been a landlord trying to sell a rented house, I would be willing to take down personal items and declutter as much as I could to help sell. Especially since you are moving in two months, I usually start packing that far out anyway.

[Renthead Mommy]

Do you all really start packing two months ahead of time? We are moving in two months and aside from putting things into the neighborhood garage sale, we havent' done a thing! I do already have a mental list of what is going in the car, but that is about it. The Sat/Sun before I'll pack the things for the car, and stick post it's on the 'do not pack' things, take down the curtains and things on the wall and finish all the last laundry. Monday they will pack the boxes and Tuesday they will pack the truck. I can't imagine starting to pack two months ahead of time! Maybe winter clothes in the summer or vice versa, but that's about. I'd be afraid I'd need something I already packed.

 

We always rent and have always had showings for new renters. I don't do anything different beyond "excuse the mess, we were XYZing". Especially since these showings we (us and LL) were totally not expecting (Phone calls within an hour of sign going up!).

[kokotg]

Do you all really start packing two months ahead of time? We are moving in two months and aside from putting things into the neighborhood garage sale, we havent' done a thing! I do already have a mental list of what is going in the car, but that is about it. The Sat/Sun before I'll pack the things for the car, and stick post it's on the 'do not pack' things, take down the curtains and things on the wall and finish all the last laundry. Monday they will pack the boxes and Tuesday they will pack the truck. I can't imagine starting to pack two months ahead of time! Maybe winter clothes in the summer or vice versa, but that's about. I'd be afraid I'd need something I already packed.

 

 

I start packing that far in advance. Sounds like you hire someone to pack for you, though....I've never done that. I think people are talking about packing themselves.

 

As for the OP, I think it would be unreasonable of them to ask you to take pictures down. I also think that, assuming you have a good relationship with them, it would be reasonable of you to do it to help them out (since you're moving anyway, would need to pack them at some point, and won't need to pull them all back out and rehang them until after you move).

[EKS]

I'm sorry, but I do not understand why people would be so stupid as to let art work that they know is not permanently on the walls influence a sale. I wouldn't let a Buddhist altar upset me or any other religious symbol even if I felt like it was offensive personally to me take away my common sense.

 

I do. Deciding on a house to buy is an emotional decision as much as it is a rational one. Going into a home that is heavily laden with the symbolism of another religion can make a person have a gut reaction of "I don't belong here." Even if they know rationally that is not the case. They might not even know that it is the religious symbolism they are reacting to.

[KnitWit]

I don't get the staging thing either. People bought and sold houses for decades without needing the previous owners to redecorate. I think *staging* is a fallacy brought to you by cable television. LOL!

[Wabi Sabi]

Like others have stated, you certainly don't have any legal responsibility to remove items from the home. But, assuming that your landlord is a decent person and has treated you well while renting the home, what would it hurt to extend a little kindness and do some simple, basic decluttering and removing excess family/personal items? I personally would just do it without being asked. It just seems like the nice, considerate thing to do, IMO.

 

I'm too lazy to scroll back up and find the specific post to quote, but someone earlier mentioned that she wouldn't do anything different at all because it doesn't matter to her if the house sells quickly. Really? Again, assuming that your landlord is a decent person, why wouldn't you want to be helpful or considerate to the fact that a couple months might make a huge difference to him or her?

[chepyl]

Do you all really start packing two months ahead of time? We are moving in two months and aside from putting things into the neighborhood garage sale, we havent' done a thing! I do already have a mental list of what is going in the car, but that is about it. The Sat/Sun before I'll pack the things for the car, and stick post it's on the 'do not pack' things, take down the curtains and things on the wall and finish all the last laundry. Monday they will pack the boxes and Tuesday they will pack the truck. I can't imagine starting to pack two months ahead of time! Maybe winter clothes in the summer or vice versa, but that's about. I'd be afraid I'd need something I already packed.

 

We always rent and have always had showings for new renters. I don't do anything different beyond "excuse the mess, we were XYZing". Especially since these showings we (us and LL) were totally not expecting (Phone calls within an hour of sign going up!).

 

 

We pack ourselves. It takes a long time to pack a household on your own. Especially if ypu are doing it around work and school schedules. It's great if ypu can hire movers, bit we have never been able to afford that.

[Amira]

Do you all really start packing two months ahead of time? We are moving in two months and aside from putting things into the neighborhood garage sale, we havent' done a thing! I do already have a mental list of what is going in the car, but that is about it. The Sat/Sun before I'll pack the things for the car, and stick post it's on the 'do not pack' things, take down the curtains and things on the wall and finish all the last laundry. Monday they will pack the boxes and Tuesday they will pack the truck. I can't imagine starting to pack two months ahead of time! Maybe winter clothes in the summer or vice versa, but that's about. I'd be afraid I'd need something I already packed.

 

We always rent and have always had showings for new renters. I don't do anything different beyond "excuse the mess, we were XYZing". Especially since these showings we (us and LL) were totally not expecting (Phone calls within an hour of sign going up!).

 

I used to start packing that early, but I don't anymore. I'd spend half my life packing if I did. I can easily pack all our stuff in a week, so I don't like to start before then. And I do pack it all myself. And move it.

 

While I very much sympathize with a landlord wanting her tenants to help stage the house (we've had to sell a house after getting laid off, and it is very stressful), I wouldn't be happy about doing it as a tenant. Like I said, we move a lot, and it is very important to me to make my house our own while we are renting. If it were that important to the landlord, I might ask if we could negotiate an earlier end to the lease so they could stage the house they way they wanted too.

[gardenmom5]

Do you all really start packing two months ahead of time? We are moving in two months and aside from putting things into the neighborhood garage sale, we havent' done a thing! I do already have a mental list of what is going in the car, but that is about it. The Sat/Sun before I'll pack the things for the car, and stick post it's on the 'do not pack' things, take down the curtains and things on the wall and finish all the last laundry. Monday they will pack the boxes and Tuesday they will pack the truck. I can't imagine starting to pack two months ahead of time! Maybe winter clothes in the summer or vice versa, but that's about. I'd be afraid I'd need something I already packed.

 

We always rent and have always had showings for new renters. I don't do anything different beyond "excuse the mess, we were XYZing". Especially since these showings we (us and LL) were totally not expecting (Phone calls within an hour of sign going up!).

are you packing yourself, or do you have professional movers? I would be going through and getting rid of stuff that's never used - why pay to move it?

[Jean in Newcastle]

most people have a very hard time imagining themselves in a space. by depersonalizing it, it enables a potential buyer to imagine themselves living within a space. most people do not have the capacity to see beyond the "things" cluttering a space. buyers who can imagine themselves living withing a space are far more likely to make an offer than a buyer who only sees clutter. (again, most buyers only see surfaces.)

 

a space that is esthetically decorated will get faster and better offers than the same space full of junk.

 

I do. Deciding on a house to buy is an emotional decision as much as it is a rational one. Going into a home that is heavily laden with the symbolism of another religion can make a person have a gut reaction of "I don't belong here." Even if they know rationally that is not the case. They might not even know that it is the religious symbolism they are reacting to.

 

Well, I guess I buy houses differently. I've bought a lot of houses - both for my own use and for use as rentals. I look past anything in the house at the "bones" of the house. If anything, I suppose it would be easier to look at a house with nothing in it at all, but if it does have things in it I ignore them, other than perhaps a "Ooh, that's nice. I wonder where they bought that."

 

Buying a house is not emotional for me. Either the house is big enough and has the room configuration to go with our general lifestyle (like having a school room!) or it doesn't. The location is either good for my dh's job or not. I don't want to belong in "their" house - ie the way that the former owners/tenants have it decorated. I'm going to make it my own.

[aggieamy]

Well, fwiw, my religious values would require me to put kindness to others ahead of display of "things", so that would preclude me leaving them up, if I thought it might in any way make the transition/sale harder for the person who owns the home. Definitely people before things.

 

Whatever legal rights I might have to leave the images up, my responsibility to my neighbor would preclude doing so.

 

Your particular religious values might not place things in that order though, so my opinion probably does you no good. :001_smile:

 

Like others have stated, you certainly don't have any legal responsibility to remove items from the home. But, assuming that your landlord is a decent person and has treated you well while renting the home, what would it hurt to extend a little kindness and do some simple, basic decluttering and removing excess family/personal items? I personally would just do it without being asked. It just seems like the nice, considerate thing to do, IMO.

 

I'm too lazy to scroll back up and find the specific post to quote, but someone earlier mentioned that she wouldn't do anything different at all because it doesn't matter to her if the house sells quickly. Really? Again, assuming that your landlord is a decent person, why wouldn't you want to be helpful or considerate to the fact that a couple months might make a huge difference to him or her?

 

:iagree:. Total agreement with these gals. Assuming the landlord hasn't been a complete jerk I'd happily help them sell it by decluttering and taking down anything that might hurt the sale of the house. It seems like just regular kindness to me.

[Tammyla]

I wouldn't worry about the house, other than knowing it was clean. (I'm a bit freaky about people going through my drawers, closets etc. but house hunters often do.)

 

*I would be sure to secure any valuables.*

[milovany]

While it might be a kindness to take them down IF it would affect the sale, there's really no real reason to think some icons left up would do so. On the social group someone said a realtor told the tenant in that situation (different tenant) that some nice religious art is just fine on the walls when a house is on the market. So with that said, I could see leaving a Christ and Theotokos icon up in an area, maybe with a couple of others, for your prayer times, but starting to put away a family altar if you have one (we converted the closet in an extra bedroom into an icon/family altar so it's pretty extensive with a couple dozen icons, candles, incense burners, books, other religious items, etc. -- I could see taking this down and returning the closet to its intended state, if the house was going on the market; this would definitely be a thoughtful kindness toward the owner).