Ugly House Photos

They built a shrine for their family photos.

Clutter in the family room.  Clutter in the kitchen too.  Clear it all out.

Pan to the right and we see more clutter, a baby in a swing, a soda machine (!), a person standing to the right, and an unevenly painted wall.  What would you put away?

The dining room looks really cluttered from this angle.

Too much furniture and whatnot in the master bedroom.  Doesn’t look very inviting or relaxing.

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Frozen in time.  Scottsbluff, Nebraska home built in 1975.  Wanna bet these are original owners?  Triple mirror.  Hanging oil lamp (aka rain lamp).  Tulips lights.  Classic.

Teddy bear collection to go with the old drapes.

Pan a bit more to the right.

The basement features orange carpet, one of those hideous frilled shade lamps, wood paneling, and an old dinette set.

Shifting slightly to the right, we see a million family photos.

The original bathroom features a Princess slimline phone for those long conversations.

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Looks like a nice living room with nice flooring.  Let’s remove the family photos and fake flowers.  And the pillows on the windowsills.  Could someone please get the kid at the front door?  Thanks.

How about waking up the kid on the couch?  Gold lamé drapes.

Spiderman!!  Pokeman too!

Bad paint job.

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Numerous studies have shown that proper home staging helps homes sell quicker and for more money than cluttered homes.  This Phoenix home suffered partially due to the Halloween decorations and clutter.  It took eight months to sell.  Finally sold in late June.

They like lighthouses, Halloween, and dolphins.

Didn’t we see that couch’s partner in the other room?  Too many family photos.

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Another home needing staging advice and assistance.

Christmas decorations (lights, candy canes) still up in May.  Half dirt, half grass lawn.  Weight bench in the front yard.

Christmas tree is up.  Lots of family photos.  Cutesy sayings (”I Love You 2 Gore”??) (”Love Always & Forever”).  If they cleared everything out but the furniture, this would be a very nice room (nice floor, nice paint, nice size).

In case they get lost, the signage tells them the next room is the family room.  [Editor: I blocked out their name.]

Very dark family room.

They painted the walls with black paint.

When buyers see the clothes rack, they will assume the closets are too small.  Cluttered dresser doesn’t help.

There’s a big tree in the child’s room.

One of those glass vessel sinks.  But you can see all the plumbing underneath.

They enclosed the patio so that they could fill it with clutter.

More junk from another angle.

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Could we just remove everything from the wall?  The dolls, the family photos, the 50 bottles of wine, the dark & heavy entertainment center.  It’s bringing down the energy of the living room.

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Where’s a home stager when you need one?!  Please help this home.

Bonus room.

Family room with family photos and wood paneling.

More of the family room.

The living room.

The master bedroom.

The master bathroom.

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Too many items in a room will distract buyers from noticing the room’s features.  Instead, they will walk up to the items and comment on them, forgetting about the rest of the house.  It’s the dollhouse home not the home with the nice wood floors.

Too many knick knacks in this Lansing, Michigan home.

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Let’s all work together to make real estate photos look better.

1. Put away boxes and clutter first.

2. Put away the refrigerator magnets.

3. Put away all family photos.

4. Put away personal belongings that create visual distractions.

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Buyers feel uncomfortable when they see so many family photos.  They feel like they are invading the seller’s space.  Best to take the family photos down before selling so that a buyer can envision the house as their future home.  Hagerstown, Maryland.

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