Regrettably, we have to rethink all of our ideas about staging homes
By: Greg Swann,
Phoenix Real Estate,
Post Archive,
RSS FeedPosted: Saturday, January 30th, 2010, 9:16 am MST
Category: Group Therapy,Marketing,Real Estate,Realty Reality
How are we ever going to top this?
Oh, yes. It’s real. Mrs. Buyer said, “I don’t even want to think about what happened in that room.” My risposte? “Nothing happened in that room!”
But: Even so: It’s an interesting real estate problem, isn’t it? It would be $500, at most, to repaint that room. And yet every buyer who has seen it will have been revolted. What’s the cash value of that revulsion? At least $15,000 off the comps — and it’s still not selling…
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15 Comments so far
Man, that wall and Mrs. Buyer’s reaction to it, is EXACTLY why I bailed from the house market so many moons ago. Thanks for the reminder.
Just can’t imagine why you haven’t been able to sell it! After all, it’s a custom mural! Gotta love it!
Too funny! I wonder if their Realtor suggested they repaint this room.
I had a client who had some interesting “toys” displayed on the bedroom wall. I suggested they might want to take them down and put the also “interesting” DVD’s away.
I tell my sellers buyers don’t want to know you use your bathroom, brush your teeth or blow your nose. So all tissue boxes and trash out of sight and waste baskets empty.
> Just can’t imagine why you haven’t been able to sell it!
Not our listing. If it were, that room would be Swiss Mocha Cream — the eye-popping shade of white Zonies know and love.
But: I personally love that kind of mistake when I represent buyers. It’s fairly common for buyers to object to bad decor decisions, but this particular mistake is paying off in free equity in exchange for a little primer and paint.
Were I representing investors, I would have our handyman come in to bid the refurb cost. For the whole house, figure maybe $10,000. Take that off the list price — which is already $15,000 under the turn-key comp value — and the whole package nets out to $2.50 on the dollar, all for maybe three days of concentrated effort. Doesn’t pencil out as a flip, but as a rental in a high-demand neighborhood, it’s a smokin’ deal.
> I tell my sellers buyers don’t want to know you use your bathroom, brush your teeth or blow your nose.
An utterly perfect utterance!
One of the houses we were in yesterday was entirely unwalkable: It was carpeted in stray shoes. Strangely enough, my buyers passed.
Oh. My. God. I love that more than words can say (in the so-bad-it’s-good sense). I have a recurring category on my blog – crimes against paint. Please, please, please give me permission to use this photo.
> Please, please, please give me permission to use this photo.
Feel free. If you right-click on the image, you can open the full-size photo in a new window/tab then save it from there. Or you can just link it from here. It’s 640x480px native.
Agree with you 100% Greg. We see this mistake all the time in St Louis. Simple room paint and some minor de-clutter and the home will sell. In fact, its probably the case in more than 50% of the homes that I list which are expireds.
Far out man! Even those of us who went through some crazy times in the 60s and 70s, and who, incidentally have money, would pass on that! Selling agent needs a reality check.
Some people leave the business because of this kind of decor, but this is exactly why I am in the business, I love it! Everyday, I get to peek into the mind of a stranger and wonder how they get themselves to the point where they can walk into a room like that and say “Yeah, that’s awesome! Who wouldn’t want this house!” I’m just enjoying the freak show, it’s all around us.
Greg,
Amazing, at least they took the swing out of there before they listed the house.
>>>” peek into the mind of a stranger …”
And if you stop and think about, that mural is not just some spur of the moment graffiti. Someone must have taken days or even months to plan it out, and carefully paint in all the little details and nuances of color and shadow … and it is still annoying.
Yes, the human mind is an amazing thing.
People: Where is your marketing imagination? Simply sign the thing Roy Lichtenstein, jack the price $50,000, and list it with Sotheby’s — art and real estate.
“But: I personally love that kind of mistake when I represent buyers. It’s fairly common for buyers to object to bad decor decisions, but this particular mistake is paying off in free equity in exchange for a little primer and paint.”
My thoughts, exactly.
And this is why I NEVER give a tenant permission to paint.
Is this a short sale that was a rental? An REO? Someone who gave a teenage boy free reign over his room? I have bought similar properties in the past at nice discounts, although I draw the line at grafitti houses with used needles and empty bottles.