Maybe your realtor told you to bake cookies or an apple pie the day that you will be showing your house to potential buyers, or to remove pictures of people from the walls so that they feel less intrusive and more able to envision your house as their own. Each time you get in the market to buy or sell a home you are likely to get a lot of advice about when and how to sell, and about what to buy. Having been in the market a number of times, our family have received some great advice, as well as some more unusual ideas, of how to go about buying our next home.
The last time we were in the market to buy was this past summer. We moved back to the Richmond, Virginia area, which has a rich tradition of appealing to purchasers of colonial and traditional style homes. Unfortunately, we have tweaked our taste over the years so that contemporary and open floor plans suit us the most. Our reasoning is that, from a socialization standpoint, floor plans should include a large living area that inspires a feeling of openness; especially if you consider how the placement of technology can lead members of a family to spend time in separate rooms at any given hour of the day. So, we made it clear to our realtor that we wanted to find a home that would inspire the family to be together.
Although we bought the contemporary we wanted despite our realtor warning us that it may be harder to sell it in the future because of the market we were moving to, we knew that her advice was logical. It seemed clear to us that if you’re moving to a historical city, you’re going to have a majority of homeowners with more traditional style homes. What we did find random and odd though was some of the more obscure real estate “urban legends” that came out during our house hunt. The most bizarre of these points was that blue houses have the hardest time selling no matter what style the market is buying up or what condition the house may be in at the time.
I have pondered this ever since and wondered if blue homes in other areas of the country have this much trouble selling. As I walk my dog through our neighborhood speckled with homes of various styles, I take note of which houses have stayed for sale the longest. What I discover is that the blue theory may be true. A lonely, blue colonial has been on the market since we moved here in August.
Please tell us about real estate legends and bizarre facts in your area of the country!