In discussing the shabby appearance of 1370 Pacific Street for its open house last weekend, a reader posted this question:

Is it better to gussy up a house for a showing or let everyone see it warts and all? All of the crap is going to come out in an inspection, hopefully. Isn’t it more honest to just let it be? I hate viewings where the owner slaps some paint on the wall, and covers the holes in the floor with a rug and a plant. I really hate when high priced brokers have the owner do things like strip painted woodwork in a half assed sloppy way so they can jack up the price. You’re only going to have to redo it anyway, why pay for it twice? I only ask that your home is clean when I come see it, it doesn’t have to be out of the pages of House and Garden. I can do my own decorating. Any thoughts?

Our thoughts? A whole industry now exists around making over properties for sale. It must be adding some value.
Open House Picks Comments [Brownstoner]


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. Re: Joel comments: I assume that participants of this blog are for the most part educated. With that being said, can someone please tell me why it is that every townhouse in a “brown” community that is not in mint condition is repeatedly referred to on this blog as a “crack house”? Please stop perpetuating ignorant stereotypes on this blogsite!!!

  2. When I sold my coop, the agent immediately told me to rent a mini-storage room and store my comic book collection, some odd pieces of furniture, piles of books, etc. And all of a sudden my apartment looked BIGGER! I also spent a bit of money fixing some ceiling cracks (not to cover up anything structural–just needed some plastering). Got a good cleaning, including windows. That kind of stuff really does help with an open house.

  3. My husband and I just bought a rowhouse in Jersey City. We were looking for a gut-reno job to do ourselves but we loved the view from this place, and the price was in our limited range! However it had been reonovated to sell, and it is going to be a nightmare fixing it. Cheap wall to wall carpet with carpet adhesive everywhere, vinyl windows, vinyl tiles, etc. We are going to have to rip it all out and start again and the shame of it is that all these resources were wasted in the first place. I honestly can’t understand anyone who would want to move in and actually live with what these people have done, and would rather have started from scratch anytime.