Marilyn Zellers last bought a house 38 years ago. She has never sold one. Within the next few months, she will do both.
“I have a lot of memories here, but this is a home for a family,” she said of her three-bedroom trilevel in St. John, Ind. “I’m going to move to something smaller.”
The house, which Marilyn and her husband built, has been regularly maintained and updated. She loves it but questions what someone who does not have the same history with the property will think. To get a fresh point of view, she wrote to Selling Points.
“I thought you could give me some tips on what I can do to sell it,” she said. “I would appreciate anything you can offer.”
We asked Patricia Kelley of Prudential/Partners Real Estate in Merrillville to assess the home’s market appeal. On a recent sunny morning, the two women met.
Marilyn’s two-acre property is dotted with evergreens, fruit trees and other foliage. The exterior of the home is brick and masonite siding. The interior features formal living and dining rooms, a large eat-in kitchen with walk-in pantry, a paneled family room with wet bar, a master bedroom with private bath, a second full bath and an office. Off-white carpeting flows through most of the rooms. The home also has a security system, a two-car attached garage, a front porch and a year-round back porch.
Within the past few years, the roof, driveway, air-conditioning system and furnace were replaced. The bathroom flooring was replaced with white ceramic tile.
The broker praised the upgrades. She also liked the hallway bath, where Marilyn toned down the yellow ceramic wall tile with a pastel wallpaper print above it and a new floor. The next owners could accessorize the room with any of several colors.
“You’ve taken some dated items and neutralized them,” the broker said approvingly.
What she would like Marilyn to do next is neutralize a few of her decorative touches.
For example, in the foyer and living and dining rooms, a couple half walls and one full wall are paneled in pecky cypress–a wood with deep, irregular gouges and channels. Marilyn painted the paneling white but left the indentations their natural color.
Citing two reasons, Kelley advised painting the indentations. One, the rest of the rooms, which are treated with accent mirrors and a satin-finish wallpaper, are more contemporary in spirit than the casualness imparted by the wood. Second, not every prospective buyer will understand Marilyn’s artistry. They’re more likely to wonder what is wrong with the walls.
“So hold your breath real tight and get out the paint brush,” she told Marilyn.
In the office on the lower level, Marilyn has painted the lower walls white and papered the upper ones with a muted stripe. The wood trim is blue. A double border in a blue and terra cotta Aztec print runs along the walls and windows.
“This room has a low ceiling,” Kelley noted. “It closes in on you because of the borders. Although it may be comfortable for you, it will be more marketable if you remove the borders and paint the wood white. It will open up the room and give it more height.”
Marilyn calls one of the bedrooms “her memory room.” Here she displays family photographs and other treasures from earlier days. Kelley said she had an idea for this room, too.
“What should I do?” asked Marilyn. “Paint the paneling?”
“No, it’s nice wood,” said the broker. She suggested removing the wide floral border, which circles the room at about shoulder height and coordinates with the window valances. The wood can stay, she added, because a future owner might use this bedroom as an office.
Marilyn said she realizes paneling dates a home. She had thought Kelley might find the family room paneling objectionable. Kelley didn’t.
“If people really don’t like dark paneling, they can put a coat of paint on it,” Kelley said.
Marilyn also had wondered about the brown vinyl flooring that leads from the front door and through the dining room. Should that be changed?
Not according to Kelley. The floor is in beautiful condition and contrasts well with the off-white wall-to-wall carpeting in the living room and the area rug under the dining table.
“It distinguishes the living room from the dining room,” the broker noted.
As the women concluded their discussion, Marilyn summarized Kelley’s remarks. “My home has too much character. It has to be more bland.”
Not that bland, Kelley reassured her. “Your home is well-maintained and shows immaculately. Anybody can move in here and enjoy it.”
