# Real estate marketing: "2 sleeps and 3 washes" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 15, 2014, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-marketing-2-sleeps-and-3-washes/681431 "2014-02-15T17:19:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-marketing-2-sleeps-and-3-washes/681431/41 "2014-02-22T23:00:24Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > So you need to remove all personal pictures and the like. My neighbour informed me that their “stager” even rearranged their bookshelf, removing some books and arranging the rest in order of largest to smallest: seriously? They should not have needed a ‘professional stager’ to tell them to do this; people have been doing it for years. That and packing up as much as you can and still live in the house to make it look more spacious. It doesn’t “fool” anyone, it just gives people fewer reasons to think ‘no’. > [@11811](#): > > “All mod cons.” But that makes sense, as it dates from pay-by-the-line newspaper ads. Unlike “For the aspiring culinary aficionado consider the option of a chef cook, …”. What person that uses aspiring, culinary, and aficionado would call a kitchen (area) a “cook”? ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-marketing-2-sleeps-and-3-washes/681431/42 "2014-02-22T23:55:38Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > “Well, I would have put in an offer but the bookshelf was disorganized, and I didn’t like the pictures of grandma and grandpa on the mantle.” > > Does anyone in the world think like this when buying a house? My guess is that almost everybody does. Although “think” is not really the right word. When you first walk into a house, if the living-room walls are bright red, the first thing you will notice is the bright red walls. When you think about that house afterwards, you will remember “the house with the red living room”. The colour of the walls is almost entirely irrelevant to the buyer, and yet it is the first and lasting impression. Similarly, a viewer will easily be distracted by books, decorations or other features that create a positive or negative impression. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-marketing-2-sleeps-and-3-washes/681431/43 "2014-02-23T00:20:19Z")
BBC America used to have a show called House Doctor, which featured an American woman who staged houses in the UK. You might think that the homeowners could have made the changes on their own, but these are usually houses that have gone unsold. Sometimes, the problems with the house are obvious even to the casual viewer. (Like the house with hunting trophies all over the walls.) Once the house is changed following the advice of the show’s host, it usually sells fairly quickly. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-marketing-2-sleeps-and-3-washes/681431/44 "2014-02-23T01:07:21Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > My guess: Chinglish. > > I found one of those listings in Denver, and … well, [check it out for yourself](http://newhomes.move.com/plan/1038683/co/denver/parker/plan-5004-at-stepping-stone-spaces-discovery-collection). > > Second level clean? 2-car park? Well-designed cook? And a create? I don’t think they’re trying to appeal to hipper-than-hip buyers, especially considering it’s a house in a second ring suburb. > > Around where I live, real estate listings for houses in one very crunchy neighborhood will often call backyards “gardens”, and there will commonly be more photos of the yard than the interior. That ad looks like it was written by a person for whom English is not their first language, or (more likely) someone who’s trying to be really cutesy. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-marketing-2-sleeps-and-3-washes/681431/45 "2014-02-23T05:27:08Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > It sounds like “second-level clean” means a washer-dryer upstairs, “well-designed cook” obviously means the kitchen, “comfortable watch” may mean the TV room? but I don’t know what they mean by “a create”. I’m assuming a craft area/office? ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-marketing-2-sleeps-and-3-washes/681431/46 "2014-02-24T01:33:24Z")
I have never heard of these terms, but I grew up in a resort town in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. The summer population is 50-60 times the year-round, and seasonal rentals (by the week or entire season, typically) are big business and make up the majority of the local classifieds. It’s also very common for 10 people to rent a house for the summer (as long as it “sleeps 10”). So, I’ve been used to seeing “sleeps 6” for 20+ years. Never seen “6 sleeps” though. If it’s anything like the “sleeps #” in vacation/seasonal rental properties, “3 sleeps” is probably 1 bedroom with a closet. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-marketing-2-sleeps-and-3-washes/681431/47 "2014-02-24T01:43:34Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Not sure about “3 sleeps” but perhaps “spacious cook” refers to the size of the chef who is included with the house? We used to have a spacious cook in our kitchen, but she kept getting stuck between the sink and the island. > [@John Bredin](#): > > A realtor was involved in selling me my _home_, which is not a _house_. You’re going to real estate hell for saying realtor and not Realtor™. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-marketing-2-sleeps-and-3-washes/681431/48 "2014-02-24T05:10:25Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > … Getting back to real estate for a second, I just had a conversation with my neighbours who are moving. Apparently houses need to be professionally “staged” now. Buyers can’t come into your house and imagine what it might look like as their house, you know, with their furniture and pictures and stuff. > > So you need to remove all personal pictures and the like. My neighbour informed me that their “stager” even rearranged their bookshelf, removing some books and arranging the rest in order of largest to smallest: seriously? > > “Well, I would have put in an offer but the bookshelf was disorganized, and I didn’t like the pictures of grandma and grandpa on the mantle.” > > Does anyone in the world think like this when buying a house? We got a great house for a steal because of this. We walked in and it was a mess. Previous owners had somehow gotten a huge sofa into the living room, then turned it diagonally so it filled up the room and you could barely get by it. Huge bookcases stuck out into what should have been a formal dining room and the kitchen was likewise barely usable. My wife thought “unsalvageable” and wanted to leave, but I mentally removed the sofa, the huge CRT TV and the bookcases, ripped up the threadbare carpeting (and the curled-up olive drab linoleum in the kitchen), patched and painted the walls… and it looked pretty good. And worth almost twice as much as they were asking. (Don’t ask, you’d just kick yourself for not getting to it first…) I had to say “Look, I’m a designer. I imagine things for a living. Trust me.” And for once, the wife did. (Made an offer on the spot and they accepted) ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-marketing-2-sleeps-and-3-washes/681431/49 "2014-02-24T17:42:08Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > We used to have a spacious cook in our kitchen, but she kept getting stuck between the sink and the island.You’re going to real estate hell for saying realtor and not Realtor™. And pronouncing it “re-ul-tur” instead of “re-ul-TOR”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-marketing-2-sleeps-and-3-washes/681431.md?page=2)