Listing a house FS with a game inside

joeycuda

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We're planning on listing our house for sale by this spring at the latest. The whole..been planning to do it for a while, projects keep coming up, etc.. Well, I know that a house having a "free Galaga" or something won't really SELL the house, how can it hurt? I thought it might be a nice gimmick, or at least set the ad apart, if not coming across as shady or something.

I know people include pool tables, as they don't want to move them, but any thoughts on including a Galaga or 60-in-1 cabinet as a bonus in the house ad? I would either include the Galaga, which I could replace in the future or a custom built Galaga copy 60-in-1.

TIA!
 
I think that you would end up giving away a perfectly good Galaga to someone who could care less about it.

We're planning on listing our house for sale by this spring at the latest. The whole..been planning to do it for a while, projects keep coming up, etc.. Well, I know that a house having a "free Galaga" or something won't really SELL the house, how can it hurt? I thought it might be a nice gimmick, or at least set the ad apart, if not coming across as shady or something.

I know people include pool tables, as they don't want to move them, but any thoughts on including a Galaga or 60-in-1 cabinet as a bonus in the house ad? I would either include the Galaga, which I could replace in the future or a custom built Galaga copy 60-in-1.

TIA!
 
I think that you would end up giving away a perfectly good Galaga to someone who could care less about it.

You could be absolutely right. What is the chance that it would push someone to be impulsive? Probably minimal, if that, just a thought the wife and I have thrown around. Might just make the ad stand out more..hmm.
 
+1 on what tbbk said

You have to concider who's gonna be buying the house. Most folks want the basics first, then focus on all the cool stuff second. My bet is that whatever buyer's are coming to see your house are going to see the Galaga as a big wooden "free fridge" token.

I'd don't really think it'll add to the ad since it isn't an necessity

EDIT: If you do go for adding the Galaga to the listing, go for the 60-in-1 you mentioned. What looks better at first glance, a cabinet with one game or a cabinet with 60?
 
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I tried listing my house with included 42" Plasma and surround sound system as well as washer/dryer already upstairs. Too bad my house is in a town no one is shopping in.
 
When I had games in my house in Parker CO I was asked to remove them before any showings. Seems like agents/buyers dont want to see that stuff in the house.
 
Interesting. When I was selling my house, I had 14 games in the garage along with a deep freezer. When the buyers saw the games, the man fell in love with the Outrun, the wife fell in love with the deep freezer. I told them that if they buy the house I would throw in either the deep freezer or the Outrun but not both. In the end, they bought the house and the wife got the deep freezer. Go figure.
 
exactly. they want to imagine it their way, not with your big ugly box stinking the place up. most people dont care about video games, and if they do they would be happier with an arcades greatest hits collection for their playstation/xbox or whatever. i think pulseman had it right with the comparison to a free fridge, except an arcade game wont even keep your beer cold!!!
 
Even though I'm not currently looking I might come by the house for a free game or two but if I were to be in the market that is not the game I would want and then it just becomes something else I have to move.
 
It distracts from the house and what you really want people looking at (unless the house is a complete shithole.)

You are far better off selling the game off before putting the house on the market for showings. At a minimum the game needs to be banished to the garage so that it does not become a distractor for the house.
 
You may do better with something like seller will include $400 home entertainment upgrade at Costco.

But really, nothing will move the house better than the price of the house.
 
When I was house shopping, my wife and I laid out some qualifications for the house. One was the school district we would be in. A few days later, I see a listing for a house with a 5 car garage outside the district we agreed on.

I look at the house anyway, and it definitely has a cheesy bachelor pad vibe to it (tiger mosaic in the bathroom, it looked like something out of an 80's movie). The garage was f'ing stunning. Full 5 car garage, all piped for air and the guy knew I loved it.

He had to move to Vegas for work within a month and offered to give me the truck he had in the garage with the house, it was like a 50 Ford pickup all lowered and tubbed out. Since it wasn't in the school district we agreed on going in, I had to eat shit and decline the purchase.

All I'm saying is something like that thrown in can definitely sway a buyer. It would have swayed me!
 
you would be surprised how many people dig the games we have they just don't see them anymore,...throw a real nice 60-1 in the garage, it only comes with a full price offer, one of the games will be there favorite.
 
According to the TV shows my wife watches and our own experience, decluttering and staging is the key. Get rid of all personalized things such as photos, trinkets, clean out closets and the garage, and this means get rid of the hobby stuff. Buyers want to envision the house the way they would want it set up -- having too much of the current owners crap in it can make that a hard thing to envision. While some of the guys might think having a Galaga in the house is cool, I can assure you that most women don't.
 
This thread is nearly 50% yay, 50% nay.. funny.

I'm not going to worry much about it. One of the bedrooms will have little in it when we stage, so figured that one game wouldn't look like clutter. I do think most women would roll their eyes though.
 
hey joey if you wana take the Galaga down here to georgia I'd pay you for it because I want one ^^

Honestly most people would just throw it out.
 
Having a video game in the house will do more harm than good. You have to remember, very few people really give a hoot about thirty yr old plywood boxes. It will overwhelm the room that its in and will only make it harder for the new owners to visualize the space. Someone who is spending $200k or more for a house does not get all excited about a $300 game that is available for free via download......

Just remember, not everyone is like the people on klov, most think video game collectors need to grow up.....sad but true....
 
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I take a lot of the advice a realtor might give you with a grain of salt.

When we listed our house for sale I left my games in the gameroom downstairs against our realtors advice. When we finally got an offer, the person buying our house said he thought the game room was awesome and wanted to get some info from me on where he could find some games after he moved in.

Our previous house (1999) had a giant rear projection TV in the lower family room that our realtor told us should be removed before showing. The offer we received on the house 3 weeks later had that they wanted the TV included in the sale written in.
 
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