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I'm selling the house and thoroughly decluttered all the rooms. My stuff is in boxes in the garage. The garage door has no lock and I'm thinking of getting a garage lock.
Do I have to allow prospective buyers access to my garage? I'd like to keep it locked up and my stuff out of sight. I'm too exhausted, busy and financially tapped out to move it and pay for storage.
I'm selling the house and thoroughly decluttered all the rooms. My stuff is in boxes in the garage. The garage door has no lock and I'm thinking of getting a garage lock.
Do I have to allow prospective buyers access to my garage? I'd like to keep it locked up and my stuff out of sight. I'm too exhausted, busy and financially tapped out to move it and pay for storage.
I can assure you that if I were a potential buyer and the seller locked me out of a room (including a garage or attached storage space), I'd be suspicious that something was being hidden. Water leak, cracks in walls or flooring, mold, etc. My imagination would run wild. Detached storage, like a shed, I'd be a less concerned. Detached garage - nope, I wanna see it.
good that you've decluttered. Put the boxes in the garage neatly preferably AWAY from the walls. And sweep the floors and cobwebs out of that garage.
I decided to get the lock, leave it unlocked for showings and lock it at other times. My garage could still be broken into, but a lock makes it very difficult.
The garage will be very neat by the time I'm through with it. I don't like storing my things in dirty spaces.
Assuming that your agent uses a lock box, why don't you have an extra key made for the garage lock and have that in the lock box also?
If not that, leave the extra key on a key ring marked "Garage" in the house, perhaps on the kitchen counter. Have your agent include instructions in the MLS or with the showing service that the garage key will be on the kitchen counter. Ask that agents be reminded to lock it back up.
I'm selling the house and thoroughly decluttered all the rooms. My stuff is in boxes in the garage. The garage door has no lock and I'm thinking of getting a garage lock.
Do I have to allow prospective buyers access to my garage? I'd like to keep it locked up and my stuff out of sight. I'm too exhausted, busy and financially tapped out to move it and pay for storage.
You don't have to let them see it, but I wouldn't buy a home for $1 if they didn't let me look at the garage, I would think they were trying to hide something, I wouldn't care if it had boxes in it. A refusal to examine any part of a home is a red flag.
I've known of many homes for sale over the years where there was a bedroom you couldn't enter because the husband slept during the day and worked nights (sometimes there was no one else home, just a note on the door), or they let buyers in but you couldn't see the baby's room because the baby was asleep or guests were concerned about having their room shown with all their things in it, or the dogs were in there for a couple of hours while the owner went out, etc. And the idea was always that if the buyer was very interested in the house, they could return at an agreeable time and the owners would make that room available.
The idea was never that the house would be sold without looking at that one last area...which I'm sure is what you mean too.
Unless you are not selling the garage. Any potential buyer will want to see what they are buying. If there is that much stuff, you may want to consider renting a storage facility.
When I was house hunting, there were house that I went to see where we were told not to enter the garage as they had their big dogs in there. That was a turn off for us and our agent.
Do I have to allow prospective buyers access to my garage? I'd like to keep it locked up and my stuff out of sight. I'm too exhausted, busy and financially tapped out to move it and pay for storage.
I'm home shopping right now.
The garage is the first thing I want to see. I have a project car, and misc tools and equipment and the garage layout is make or break for me.
So if I were interested in your house, i'd ask to see the garage before deciding to make an offer or not.
I never realize how heated people got over not seeing a garage. Didn't hurt my sale at all when I kept my dogs and cats in the garage during open houses and had a sign on the door stating that there's pets inside and do not open door. Under the sign I had pictures of the garage. A standard 2 car garage. Nothing fancy, no storage, no appliances etc. Just a big square room.
Upon second viewings, I would put my pets in cages and allowed access to the garage.
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