What do you do with your guns when you're selling your house?

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have the agent mention the safes are old, and the combinations lost... they will be removed at the time of sale, but your using the money from the sale to finance them being removed. Lots of safes out there where no one knows the combination.
 
If pursuing the "hide" option, you will have to be thorough--that bin full of holsters, the stack of American Rifleman magazines, the ammo cans holding up the shoe shelves in the closet . . . the lot of it.

Wardrobe box can be an excellent choice--about $30 at the moving box store. Another option is to go to the big box store in the appliance area and ask for refrigerator boxes. Label them in ways to satisfy curiosity--"Fruitcakes" "Picnic Supplies" "funeral stuff"--but does not invite further examination. Sticking "layers" of 'dummy' labels can help this.
 
i moved valuables, including locked & cased firearms and ammo (no gun safe), to a small closet and put a kee-blok lock bought on ebay on the closet door knob. realtor said it’s common and nobody was concerned.

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I guess it just depends on the market in your area. We had active showing for about two days before multiple offers came in. Buyers were not really in a position to be worrying about a locked storage room in the basement if they wanted their offer accepted. Like I stated, we did allow the inspector to check the room once under contract.
 
Selling or not, nobody who doesn't live here has ever seen my safe. When I move, it'll stay with the house.
My FIL has seen it before and knows what's in there, but has never seen inside. I'd let him if he asked.
 
.455_Hunter said:
I guess it just depends on the market in your area. We had active showing for about two days before multiple offers came in. Buyers were not really in a position to be worrying about a locked storage room in the basement if they wanted their offer accepted. Like I stated, we did allow the inspector to check the room once under contract.
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I live in a Chicago suburb with a great school district and park district. With the number of people leaving Chicago houses in our suburb are selling in a week, assuming they're priced correctly.

I've been working on this for the past few hours, loading my shooting supplies in banker's boxes. Putting the safe in a corner of the room with the boxes in front and on the side of it will work, especially since the boxes are pretty heavy and not easily moved.
 
Had all of my handguns in small gun safes under a long workbench in the basement. Put boxes and plastic totes in front of them and you would never think to look for them there. Books, magazines, and reloading equipment were stored in boxes and placed on shelves of another built-in workbench that I had. Ammo was kept in boxes far back in a crawl space and another safe holding my long guns was hidden in an unused wood storage cabinet which was locked.
 
I would be inclined to make a simple frame for the front of the safe to make a flush front, load up with dessicant, then cover the lot with black plastic silo cover secured by duct tape. I might also add a bio hazard or nuclear radiation placard just for fun. It would be tamper evident and nobody's business.
Alternatively, you will be moving the guns eventually anyway, so load them into a nondescript but secure job site box, move to office or other safe location, and again seal from prying eyes. When time to move to new home, pallet jack and lift gate facilitates delivery en bloc.
 
Good question, although not worried about thieves I do worry about people knowing what I have. Cover them with a sheet, color that accentuates the room. People are funny when looking at houses they even look inside medicine cabinets. Hide the Viagra too. Funny maybe but I just ran into a situation not too dissimilar. My daughter is a teacher, 2nd year, COVID has her teaching from the house via Zoom. At first I offered her my office during working hours to run the class. She was the one that pointed out the huge Steelwater gun safe in said office.
 
I have always bought the house I was moving to before I ever listed the one I was selling. There is no reason for anyone to know I own guns, reload, or anything else about my personal life unless I choose to let them.
 
Aside from the obvious security reasons: When selling it's all about perceptions and presentation. The house should have minimum furniture and "brick-a- brack" including reloading stuff and firearms related stuff! It makes the space look larger and open. (Including the garage!) Follow the selling agents advice on this issue!

Move the stuff to the new house or storage! You'll thank me later!

Moving guns to a son or daughter shouldn't be a (FFL) problem unless to another state! Of course verify that they can possess firearms! Yeah I know, but it could happen! :)'s
 
JJFitch said:
Aside from the obvious security reasons: When selling it's all about perceptions and presentation. The house should have minimum furniture and "brick-a- brack" including reloading stuff and firearms related stuff! It makes the space look larger and open. (Including the garage!) Follow the selling agents advice on this issue!

Move the stuff to the new house or storage! You'll thank me later!

Moving guns to a son or daughter shouldn't be a (FFL) problem unless to another state! Of course verify that they can possess firearms! Yeah I know, but it could happen! :)'s
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My son and daughter in law are in Wisconsin and I'm in Illinois, so we would need to go through a FFL. I agree with presenting the house with as little clutter as possible, and am working on that now.
 
We have our house for sale now.
I do have discrete cameras in the house,and only allow lookers by appointment with realtors so you have documented who is in the house.
I know,doesn't keep the lookers from passing on the info,but would give the police some where to start looking if any thing did happen.
 
JTHunter said:
FYI - if you are putting your safe and contents in "self-storage", be sure to put it in a climate controlled unit, even if for just a few days.
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I know at least one person who opted for the climate-controlled 24hr camera self-storage place and he had his collection stolen. I don’t know that the theft was ever solved, but some of the guys in my coffee club bring the idea of off-site storage up from time to time (and more recently here post-election).
In this day and age we really can’t ignore the possibility of theft, either home or elsewhere, I’m afraid.
 
George P said:
As will the buyer's home inspector
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Funny, last home "inspector" was a joke. Basically wandered around inside and out poked a wall or two and sent a bill for $400. Bill says "not responsible for things not seen"
 
We moved to a different state last July. I had no way to hide a large gun safe, so I didn't even try. Much to my surprise the new owners asked if they could purchase it separately, for enough to replace it. They had a few guns and no place to store them and they were just starting to have children. Put a sign on it, for sale cash on the side.
 
alfsauve said:
Same problem during major renovations. I throw a large blanket/spread over the workbench and reloading bench. (That also discourages the workers from borrowing tools and forgetting to put them back.) I've gotten less worried about it over the years. Part of me wants to keep it private and part of me worries a little about theft but part of me wants to scream:

Hey World. Being a shooter is a NORMAL activity.
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Guess it depends on the area, when we were looking at houses (north central Wisconsin) I think every house except one we looked at (and we looked at a LOT) had gun cabinets, safes, or stacked hard cases in the garage or basement.

Of course up here you can assume every house has a shotgun and deer rifle or two somewhere.

I like your blanket and boxes idea, I think that'd work well.

Edit: from your description and what my relatives saw in Madison when they sold their place you'll probably have cash offers in a few days.
 
Our safe was in the listing photos and in plain view during tours. We declined open houses and realtor had customer’s info on all scheduled showings but it still annoyed me having strangers in house.

In the end we got lucky and were under contract within 2 weeks. Best decision we ever made to get out of that house.

Our vendor for the safe actually picked up safe from old house, stored it for a few weeks at their warehouse and re-delivered to new house for a reasonable fee.
 
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I recently moved. Loaded all my guns into my vehicle and drove them to my parents’ house a couple hours away. No transfer of ownership, just storing them in that location. Made for a lot more peace of mind what with contractors, movers, prospective buyers all coming through the house. A couple weeks after I moved to the new place I took a drive out and brought them all home.

Not sure what state laws would require you to use an FFL to transfer them if you were to store them with your family in another state....
 
If I understand correctly, putting the guns in a locked container for which only you possess the key or combination avoids the change in possession issue. Still, best not get your legal advice from internet experts.
 
Mosin77 said:
I recently moved. Loaded all my guns into my vehicle and drove them to my parents’ house a couple hours away....
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If you crossed a state line you and your parents committed a serious federal crime punishable by up to five years in federal prison (and a lifetime loss of gun rights) -- first when you took the guns to your parents' home, and again when you took the guns back.

It's all explained in this post.

Mosin77 said:
...Not sure what state laws would require you to use an FFL to transfer them if you were to store them with your family in another state....
Click to expand...

It all depends on the State. But probably your biggest worry would be federal law, as explained in this post.
 
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