It's funky and classic all at once, great views, I would not touch a thing; anyone looking for a loft at that price would be able to evaluate the space and how it would work for them, I know I would certainly be able to.

This is quite different than your first time buyers looking at an outdated bungalow. This loft speaks for itself, imo.

Let us know how people react to it, are you the agent ?

I don't think it needs staging for resale. The lines are fantastic. If anything take 80 percent of the furniture.
Those windows are wonderful.

i had a hard time distinguishing between common area photos & the actual unit - so, in that regard, i would say that some staging might help ...

I'd definitely get rid of the more ornate pieces. They're distracting and make the space look "busy".

I love the location, but $1.5 million seems optimistic in our market right now. (I live in the Twin Cities.)

I'm going to disagree and say, yes, stage it by removing most of the items that are not contemporary modern. "Complex tastes" does not begin to describe this collection, IMO. To me it looks like multiple personalities have decorated this place. I would fear that the striking - and not in good way - contrasts in styles are going to take the focus away from the loft.

I did not see any common areas in the slideshow. Maybe they changed them out?

That place is 2750sq/ft, exactly two and a half times the size of my house. That's huge IMHO. It says there is river frontage. It also includes two garage stalls. It does not list any common areas but maybe there is a community room or workout center or storage area not shown or on the list? The description is pretty scimpy. They probably want lots of calls.

I do not live in NY or CA and that looks like a reasonable price for something that big, and on a higher up floor with such a scenic view. That view is fantastic! The location and neighbor hood do not look bad either.

There are lot and lots of loft condos built in the warehouse districts across America. Why is this one being shown? Do you know the owner?

My personal reaction was that there was excessive ornamentation. It would not stop me from viewing and or buying the place, LOL. However, I can evaluate a non-staged space whether it is a huge loft or a tiny row house. I just wondered if neutral staging was "expected" in higher end homes the way it is in lower end homes.

Mitch, no, I am not the agent. I just am in the market for a hard loft and look at all listings.

yogacat, I agree with you. There are penthouses for sale (not in the Mill City building) for less than that, that are dropping in price every month. I am waiting for the perfect space in the perfect building, but this is definitely a great time to be a buyer.

Joanna

jen, that was kind of my reaction, too.

graywings, see, I agree with you, but I am wondering if at a certain price range, nobody cares what the decor is? On Buying/Selling shows, no matter how much the home costs or where it is located, they make it kind of "neutral-but-lovely" for resale. The loft is a real gem when discussing this topic because IMO it is very non-neutral.

I'd love to hear more responses!

Joanna

We all enjoy mentally decorating a room but many people just aren't capable of it. Tradewinds, I'm assuming that this isn't your loft so I am going to say that it looks like Donald Trump married an NBA player and they had to combine households. I would pull both the gold trimmed statues/plant stand(?) with the black figures, the gold trimmed urns, the chest under the piano, do a major declutter of the wall unit and take out the stuff under the coffee table. I'm not crazy about the wall art and would probably pull it to see how the walls look without it. Let us know about the "story" behind the space.

Oops, we were both posted at the same time. Sorry for the already answered questions.

Dee

deee, I am sorry, I don't have a great story about it! I found it because I was looking, as always, in the MLS for hard lofts in the Twin Cities metro area. It was striking to me for now non-neutral it was.

So yes, of course it has great windows and a great view, so does that negate any need for staging, to make it more across-the-board appealing? Or is it the price range?

These are all fascinating questions to me, and the more I hear other people's opinions, the more I learn (since we all think so differently).

A fun discussion!

Joanna

Well, while I do think this is a great example of eclecticism gone wrong (love, the Trump/NBA analogy!) it is open enough that one can still see and appreciate the spaces. If I were the listing agent, I'd be worried that buyers would be distracted by the mishmash and outright (IMO) ugliness of certain things. I'd want them looking hard at the place and not twittering over the statuary.

Tradewind, you are lucky to be buying now. (I can only assume you're not selling, too!)

Amy, I will be selling in the near future, but my buying is not dependent on my selling, so it really doesn't matter. Also -- just so nobody thinks I am going to buy this loft...this loft is not in my price range. Well, not today, anyway :-)

Joanna

For unique spaces at upper-end prices, I think nuetral would be wrong -- very wrong.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of that particular decor, and I agree that it appears cluttered in the photos.
But I wouldn't 'stage' it in the traditional sense.

I'd yank the art, all of it. People can get over the purple couches, but the art is too much.

They also have their computer on a bureau with a chair pulled up to it...which might send the message that there's not enough space for a little office. Better to put the computer away for open houses than to have it perched on a dresser.

The walls have been treated...it makes the place look smaller, I think.

But hey, I'm no professional.

From one angle it looked like a big furniture showroom, not a living space. I think it needs some sprucing up with better colors and space definition.

The decor is not exactly my taste, but it is far more interesting than any one "style" of decorating, in my view.

It wouldn't bother me a bit to view this property; I can look past decor and consider the space and the potential.

My first impression? It's a place where you couldn't pay me to spend the night alone in there! lol. It's so cold & the walls are creepy. Sometimes I have to wonder if people decorate to make their "house" a home, or to impress others?

So in this case, I'd definitely do a staging.

Well, in my view, the thing that appeals about a loft space is first of all - the space! And i think it's way overstuffed. There's no path upon which the eye can meander along the generous proportions.

The other attraction of a loft space is its architectural details - and this loft has them, but once again, they're obscured by all the ... the stuff.

It's just too much stuff. Sorry, that's just how i feel.

Kitchen is on the right track though. :)

I think that loft is staged. And yes, it does look like Donald Trump's daughter used the family thrift store to stage it. It's hideous! Wouldn't stop me from buying it but they would take a huge hit on the cost of new wall coverings. Love that modern industrial look but someone missed the boat on this one.

Oh - and where is the grass?, says this country bumpkin'. View? What is the view of? I have a view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains - now that is a real view. LOL. Scroll down on left to "The Deck" photo. Part of our great view shows.
GoldDust

Here is a link that might be useful: My Great View. LOL!

Personally, I think that what we are seeing here IS someone's idea of staging. It looks like a bunch of stuff was hauled in from a staging company's warehouse to fill the empty space so that it did not echo and nudges the buyer into getting the idea of where the "rooms" are suppose to be. Just the way the stuff is set about looked staged, like the laptop angled on the high dresser. There are no books around or any sign of "living". I understand the aspect of 'decluttering' but there isn't even a pot holder or towel in the kitchen.

I recently worked a booth a realtors show, and there were staging companies there who had booths showing off their 'skill'. Believe me, anybody can start up a staging company. No skill or talent needed. The stuff the staging companies had on display looked very similar to what we see in the loft here.

I live in a slightly bigger raw loft in LA, and I think it needs to be staged. There's just too much stuff in there, and it's too "room-y". If you live in a loft, you want to see some expanse. I do love the windows--mine are 9 foot sash windows, and while I have 16 of them, I'd rather have those as pictured in the space.
It's a great space.

Thanks to all who participated in this discussion, I really enjoyed hearing so many points of view.

Personally, I wish that every single home I was viewing for possible purchase would be completely empty, which is one of the reasons I find the topic of staging so interesting. A realtor told me once, "if staging is done right, you would never even know it it was happening". Maybe that's true :-)

Joanna

I'm really torn about staging. I understand why, and quite frankly, the overall process is rather fascinating to me ... but another part of me feels that if someone is too darn dense to see past furniture and paint colors, that person is potentially too daft to enter into a contract of sale! Maybe that's mean of me to think (yeah, I'm pretty sure it is), but I just can't quite wrap my mind around not being able to see a space and its potential. OK, if a place were completely packed to the gills with all sorts of clutter and junk, I certainly understand the need for weeding out and pulling together a pleasing arrangement before buyers view the property. I guess what kinda irks me, though, is what I've see on the HGTV staging shows, where the "expert" will walk into a spare bedroom that perhaps houses a desk and a treadmill and sputter in shock, "What is this room supposed to be, anyway? Is this a bedroom? If so, I want to see a bed in here!" Jeez. Like people are really that ignorant that they don't recognize a space for what it is intended to be, or what it could be?

I realize I haven't exactly addressed Joanna's question about this particular loft -- but maybe in a roundabout way I've expressed my rather two-faced views of staging overall.
;-)

I'm still choking over the $1160 a month association fee!

I agree with the analogy of the furniture store showroom. The contrasts between the different examples of decor are just too jarring (if that is even a word) Especially for an open space. There is no natural flow from one space to the other. I think the problem with that is, that it gives the viewer an excuse to move on to the next unit for sale. Apparently first impressions are important and while the space itself has many things going for it, the ghastly contrasts kind of take over the minus column in my opinion. I am able to see beyond the decor but at that price it should at least look like they are trying. It does not have to be perfect but come on.

Re staging, I think as long as the clutter is gone, so that you can actually see the house's lines and the house is clean, things are mechanically sound, these things go a long way in helping the homeowner sell the house. If it gets to the stage where the viewer is questioning whether anyone even lives in the home, that can be a source of distraction as well. In my mind I wonder why the homeowner has to try so hard. JMO.

I thought this one was fun. Not as colorful or creative as i would like, but decent matches

Here is a link that might be useful: 7 million dollar home needs staging

stinkytufted~ I would happily move into that home that "needs staging". LOL! I think they did a good job with the rugs, but I don't mind the bare floors at all. :o)

The loft..... seems all wrong for loft living. Furniture doesn't really reflect the "loft" feel, especially the bed! But I did like the kitchen. :o) I think I'd rather see it "empty" and walls back to something nuetral. I'm just not feeling the "sponged" look on those walls.

Stinkytufted, I liked the six million dollar man, I mean home, better in the "before" photos, -- the rugs cover up too much of the beautiful flooring. Nice house either way though!

I just skimmed this thread so apologies if I missed it, but what is a 'hard loft'? I've never heard that term before.

Ann

Ann: A hard loft is a 'real loft' - which is to say it's either an actual warehouse or factory space, or it's a building that has been built with those proportions. A 'soft loft' is a condo or co-op apartment that has high ceilings and not a lot of walls.

As far as staging the loft referred to in this thread - I would definitely suggest something be done. Start by removing ALL the floor-coverings. Then take out all the tchotckes. Then remove all of the ornate or detailed furniture. The one pic I saw that looked right to me was the kitchen.

The rest of the rooms tell me that someone who is not a "loft-living urbanite" moved into the space from an affluent suburb and has realised that they made a mistake.

A lot of the furniture and fixtures are beautiful but they speak in tones of luxury and comfort, which seems to argue a bit with the hard-edged utilitarianism of the concrete walls and steel ducts. They deserve the right showcase.

Certainly a lot of people will be able to look at the space and imagine it empty - but why make them ? You're trying to sell something so make it easy for them to spend their money. If you don't - comeone else will.