Fugly Houses

Over the past few months I have been doing my research on real estate. Interior design has always been an interest of mine and now real estate is becoming more interesting to me as well. I take a look at mlsfinder.com weekly to see what's out there and what is available. With that being said, I have cringed more times than not due to ugly kitchens, bathrooms, wood paneling & all around bad choices in house design...

Bad design baffles me. If you don't have the creativity or the skill to decorate/design your house, don't just slap some random blue recliner in the corner...do your research, ask around, hire someone or even Google what a chic house should look like! No one should have to live among wood paneling and mismatched hand me down furniture. Put some time, effort and pride into your house...

Now, that brings me to staging houses....It really drives me crazy when I see a picture like this in a real estate listing....

I mean the wood paneling might not be something these home owners can help (taking it down could be major construction, not to mention major money that they probably just don't want to put into the house)...but the 1960's exercise bike, the tacky desk and pictures and the gross green curtains have GOT to go...aren't they trying to SELL their house? To me, staging a house is something that is such an important aspect to selling a house...as a future home buyer, if I walked into this basement I would turn around and leave the house immediately. I wouldn't even consider this basement a "fixer upper" because I don't think I would even be able to get past the exercise bike...so, a little food for thought for these homeowners...empty your basement of all your tacky belongings and THEN take pictures to post online...and MAYBE, just maybe...you can sell your problem, i mean...house.

Which brings me to my next topic....when real estate listings use what they think are "key words" to selling a house...

This real estate listing said this house was "tastefully decorated." Um....this, to me, is ANYTHING but tasteful. First of all brown kitchens are clearly out now a days, so I really would consider this to be in the "fixer upper" stage. And second...this person is clearly color blind and took the term "kitchen yellow" too literal. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the best way to sell a house is with NEUTRAL paint colors and to take pictures without your kids toys strewn everywhere. People need to be able to picture themselves in the house they are buying. I am simply offended that this real estate listing is trying to convince people this is tasteful, and just because of that, I would never even consider taking a look at this house. It makes me wonder, if they are lying about the house being "tastefully decorated," what else are they hiding?