Well I'm a Realtor as well as a wood hoarder. I'll give you my take as a Realtor with 7 years of selling homes. Parts of it are "straight forward" this is simply advise from experience. There being "too much wood" really depends on your house/lot. With an open fireplace and no wood stove the perspective buyers likely won't burn very much. Just your chilly nights and Christmas ect. So the extra wood isnt much of a draw, I would leave less then a years worth there only if you want to. The size of the yard/lot also plays a big role. If your in a neighborhood or on a smaller lot then the yard space is valuable for kids/toys ect. And most of us here know that we "hoarders" are considered the weird ones. Simply stated with selling your house your goal is to sell, not have it for sale and have what what you want in the back yard. It's up to the buyers to purchase and you want to do everything you can to make them fall in love with your house. If a buyer thinks the wood pile is an eyesore it's a negative and a lot of potential work in their minds for them to move. This is a similar situation to trophy mounts in a house, I'm a huge hunter and have everything from ducks, turkeys, deer, gators, and African animals in my trophy room. But I've also seen first hand when buyers that aren't used to seeing mounts run into them and their reactions. Selling a home is very much about emotions for a buyer and seller. Your job as a seller is to not have anything to cause negative emotions in the house. I'll go back to the idea that "You want to sell not just have your house for sale". I always advise my clients to remove mounts. When selling your house it's not the right time argue our side on hunting ect, it's simply the time to do what is needed to sell. That will get you the most money in the shortest amount of time on market. I've sold many of my own homes as well and always take the mounts down and moved prior to selling, it helps. I have also sold one home with a 3 yr supply of wood in the back yard and all the buyers asked the same thing. "Is the wood going to be gone?" They usually don't see the value there. If it was me I would sell the wood, that's the easiest and it makes you more money. Unless you have equipment to move it. I've moved my wood stock before, it's a lot of work. But I also had access to equipment to make it a little easier. Hope this helps
Or, you could say screw it and sell off some of your stuff (or give away) to make that 1200 square foot space usable again, and then burn like it's 1999 all over again, until all the wood is gone. Just think of those chilly mornings in July with a nice oak fire going, hhhmmmm?
It's good to see a true professionals opinion. After reading your thoughts on the subject Swags I will say you you know what your talking about. If I was in the shoes of a Tony2Truck . I would take your advice.
We've been trying to sell for 1.5 years, no offers. I've got a 50x8 "wood port" (see pic) full of around 20 cords. I've made it very clear to my realtor that the wood and the wood port is completely negotiable, meaning if the buyer is interested it can stay and we can negotiate, if the buyer is not interested I will be more than happy to make it all go away, whatever it takes to make the sale go through. We are on our second listing agent, and neither one feels the wood is obtrusive, however I do keep it very neat and it is out of the way, not taking up usable yard space. At this point I'd be happy to "throw in" the wood to a potential buyer if it would help the sale, three years of "free" heat included.
Realtors are not programmed to operate like that. It's the same thing with pools. They'll say that you are looking for a small percentage of people and driving away the majority of home buyers. My mom's been a Realtor since the 80s. She has burned wood most of her life, in a state that has a bigger woodburning community.
Thanks for elaborating on the exact point I was eluding to. Having an open FP and 3 years of wood is a bit of a conundrum.
I dont have any advice for you but that picture is great, gives you a new perspective on what is possible.
You said you "out grew the house"? Build an addition on the house! Or as Pappy88 said raise the price! Here's my 2 cent's, Wood burning has and is part of my life!!! ... So, in my opinion someone with like mindedness will come along eventually think your place is the greatest! If not, don't bow down to realtor pressure, because all they want is the sale and the $$$ from it. My oldest brother owned a real-estate business years back, "now retired" He once said, you could sell a pile of $#!T to a millionaire if you know how to do it!
