What If for homeowners

[George Bellefontaine]

What if you decided to sell your home, would you include an equipped media room or dedicated home theater in the package ?
I originally thought we would be moving after my retirement but found we put so much work and whatnot into our present home that we decided to stay put. Before we made that decision I was grappling with the question of whether or not I should include my HT with the house when I put it on the market. After some thought, I decided I would include everything except the dvd and laserdisc collection. My feeling is that by including all my HT gear I would get more for it if it was part of the house as a package , allowing me to upgrade without taking too much of a loss on my used stuff. If you've ever tried to sell used electronics, you'll know what I mean.
Well, doesn't look like I'll be selling my house, but what about you? Even if you don't own your own home now, suppose you did. What would you do with your HT set up ?




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[P-Dub]

Hmm, I've heard that including a HT room does not significantly increase the price of the house. That is especially true about HT gear as well. By HT room, I mean a room that has been specifically modified to house our precious HT gear as well as a screen and even projector. The vast majority of house buyers are looking for something specific as well as the ability to personalize their new home. Just ask Andrew, I'm sure the current owners of his new house thought they had a pretty good media room. But that's nothing compared to what us diehards are really looking for. The usual washer/dryer, dishwasher, fridge, etc, would probably fetch more than your gear. Unless it's one of us HT nuts that sees your place. Then we'd make an offer that would also include your dvd and LD collection.

Personally, if/when I have my own house, I'd probably take my stuff with me. I'd maybe have the option of leaving it, if the buyer is willing to pay a reasonable amount for my gear, but if the guy's already grinded me down on my asking price, I don't know if he really deserves a decent HT system. Let him buy a Blose. :B

I don't own anything at the moment that would be a problem to move. If I had a FPTV setup, that might make a difference as the screen may be motorized, or built in. My projector will definitely be one that could be moved. I don't plan on getting a RPTV, so there's no issue on moving that, and I'd have some sentimental reasons for keeping all my old gear. In fact I'm trying to convince myself to pickup my Dad's old Martanz receiver, he's not using it anymore and claims it doesn't work. But if it's just a fuse, I'd like to have it, again for sentimental reasons.




Paul

There are three kinds of people in this world; those that can count, and those that can't.

[Burke Strickland]

If I were selling my house in the next year (as opposed to twenty years from now) I'd just leave the room, not the equipment. And I might even have to repaint the room white again to look more like a more standard "living room", unless the new buyer is really "into" dark grey and black as a color scheme. :>) However, I've found in the past selling previous houses that regardless of how you "spiff up" the place to sell it, the new buyer will repaint and change out the carpet and drapes, etcetera, to better fit their own furniture and bad taste :>) anyway, so unless it is a real impediment to a sale, I'd just leave all decor "as is".

The equipment goes with me. I've spent too much time, effort and money getting the right combination of equipment to just leave it in the hands of strangers (even if they are "paying" for it.) And I know I'd want just about the same stuff wherever I moved, so replacing it would be an expensive proposition that the house sale wouldn't cover.

But since I have no plans to move any time soon, it is really a moot point. Interesting question, though.

Burke

[Lex]

Well, I think you know the answer to that question for me. Unless they want to take a second out right away, I doubt they will get my MC1, two proceeds, and 10,000 new value worth of Sonus fabers.

My take is, it will take a special buyer to appreciate a custom room, and generally, he's the type that will have his own equipment anyway. I could however see a front projector as a deal closer, or maybe my bedroom system for someone that doesn't have an HT. but I am sure when I flashed a 25K figure on my HT gear. (I couldn't even replace it for that), the woman would say, geesh, we can have a room added on for that price! lol.

Lex

[David Meek]

We sold our old house last year. It had a dedicated HT room that had been converted from an attached one-car garage. The room and its associated cabinetry were a large part of the buyer's decision to purchase the house (the first person to see it bought it). The equipment came with me, 'cuz component/speaker combinations are so VERY user dependent, and like Burke I'd collected the combination I wanted (but not at the same budgetary level )




David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker

[George Bellefontaine]

I suppose it's like having a house with a swimming pool. In this part of the country, where we only really have 3 months of swimming pool weather, pools actually hinder sales. I've seen houses stuck on the market for more than two years because of the pool problem. Same probably would be for a dedicated media room or Home Theater. For everything for sale there's a customer somewhere. One thing I know for sure, if I did try to sell my house without the HT, I would have to replace the window I closed in, repaint the walls,etc., taking it back to a rec room or extra bedroom. That's why I was considering marketing the house with the HT thing.




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[Susan]

Were I ready to upgrade and had no "attachment" to the system, I would offer it as a separate option. To somebuyers the idea of a fully-configured system would be very appealing. I wouldn't compare a HT to a swimming pool, as that room can easily be converted to other uses, something a pool cannot do (other than to provide a practice halfpipe for rollerblading :+) )

I couldn't leave my speakers..too personal a choice...but it would be easy enuf to get a good set of , say, Paradigm 303's for the HT and hide my monsters.
Susan