When God stages the house
Last Saturday was one of those New England days when the weather couldn’t make up its mind. I wore my rain jacket, I wore my sunglasses, my jacket, my glasses, no glasses and no jacket… I was hot; I was chilly.
For my clients, it is hard to not be affected by seeing one house in bright sunlight and then seeing the next with overcast skies. To further complicate things, this weekend was the first one of the year since the trees have gotten to full leaf. Everything changes when this happens. Suddenly, the back yard is green, but shady.
Saturday night it poured, dramatically. That first torrential, windy rain that reminds us that summer thunderstorms are on the way. Sunday dawned clear and cool, with a heavy wind. The air was fresh and the sun was bright. Things looked good. Open houses were packed.
Here’s where God does the best staging for the sellers. No matter how much staging a house gets, the sunlight is the sunlight. The greenery is the greenery. On days like today, even empty houses looked good. Even neglected yards looked fresh.
There were two exceptions today:
1. Dirty houses look all-the-more dreadful on clear, fresh, spring days.
2. Because of the rain, wet yards and wet basements were all-the-more obvious.
Buyers, how do you figure out when a house is getting the benefit of perfect weather?
1. Look at the actual window size and direction they face. Consider how the light will change through the day.
2. Notice which rooms are brighter than others. Are they the rooms you want to be bright?
3. Before the leaves are in, look for the shadows that the branches make on the ground, there will be shade there when the leaves come in.
4. Turn off the lights, if the broker put them on. Wait for your eyes to adjust. Turn them back on when you leave the room.
I try to help my buyers imagine the house they are considering in all seasons. Not just the perfect spring day, or the dismal autumn one. Just like I teach my buyers to see around staging, I teach them to accept that all days are not as nice as last Sunday.
Last Sunday was a particularly lovely day, quite the blessing. I hope you all had a chance to enjoy it. As I turn toward another working weekend, I keep in mind how to help my buyers imagine a property in all weather conditions.
How do you keep from getting turned on or turned off because of the weather when house-hunting?
Comment
Permalink
Email
i actually prefer house-hunting when the weather is unpleasant -- you get a better sense of what the lighting will be like for most of the year (this is new england), and if anything is leaky.... also in cooler weather, you get a sense of how drafty or warm a home can be.
but i agree -- external forces do play a part! i always insist on seeing a property more than once under different conditions in order to avoid that "pink lens" effect.
Some people can imagine, but most are like Chloe; they need to see houses twice. Not to beat a dead horse, but that's why I hate hurry-up sales tactics...
Good call on the need to spot drafts. However, it has to be raining really hard to see leaks that readily. You could get fooled there.
I've purchased several nice homes here. In Boston, bad weather doesn't affect my viewing, because we have so much bad weather for several months a year. I focus on the rooms I'll be in when there is bad weather: is there a comfortable den, family room, etc., with a fireplace? Built-in bookshelves? Does the kitchen have a good view? (Even on cloudy days I like to have a nice view when I'm cooking.) And the house always has to have good southern exposure.
You should drive by the house at night too. That's when you notice stuff like glaring lights.
Drive by on the weekdays too. Many houses seem like they are on quiet streets over the weekend. These same "quiet" streets might be major commuting routes during the week.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
Recent Posts
browse this blog
by categoryINside Boston.com
on the ice at Fenway Park