Too Bad They Couldn't Stage The Neighbor's Yard

Yesterday, I almost did not show a wonderful house.

The information on the MRIS listing made it look perfect for my buyers.

• Big fenced back yard – check
  
• Renovated kitchen – check
• Two baths on the main level – check
• Hardwood floors – check
• Fireplace – check
• Separate dining room – check
• Good family room – check
• A particular school district – check
• An asking price well within their comfort zone – check

And there was an excellent virtual tour.  This was the house they expected to be the winner. 

It wasn’t.

We drove down the street and noticed that the yards looked tidy.  Clean, late-model cars sat in the driveways and lined the street, and the well-kept houses all backed to woods on both sides of the street – until, that is, we reached the end of the block where Dream House was located.

It was the house next door. 

Its front yard had a combination of American flags (about 4 of them) and countless broken garden gnomes and birdbaths.  There were about 8 cars in varying states of disrepair parked in the driveway, carport and along the front curb.  When we pulled up, the owner came out (wearing an American flag sweater) to give us the eye and started raking his leaves.  He looked pretty normal.  I think it was the injured gnome collection that put us off.

When we got out of my car and went inside (we almost drove on), it was clearly a Wow House.  It showed just beautifully.  The new kitchen had lots of granite counter tops, nice appliances and cherry cabinets with dove-tailed drawers.  It had both a screened-in porch and a rear deck overlooking the gigantic lot and woods.     

Then I heard one of those little buying sign gasps as they saw the back yard, almost an acre and totally fenced for the dog they were planning to add to their family.  But oops!  It also had a view of a shattered gnome cemetery – well, they weren’t exactly buried but jumbled up all over the neighbor’s enormous back yard.  Then there was the deck, which had huge pots of dirty plastic flowers, and about a dozen pieces of rusted out metal patio furniture.

And garden gnome neighbor turned out to be a deal breaker.  We didn’t know his story or his family’s.  There might have been some explanation for the state of his house.  But it didn’t matter.  My buyers are making an offer on another house.

I felt sorry for the listing agent, who had done a fabulous job of pricing and staging her listing.  Too bad she couldn’t have worked her magic on the nextdoor neighbors!