# Selling a house with a jigsaw puzzle on the table? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 14, 2021, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655 "2021-08-14T12:52:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2021, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/41 "2021-08-15T13:59:51Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > When i was house shopping, one house had an extensive hosta garden. And one of the conditions of sale was giving the seller access to take divisions of some of the hostas during whatever season is good for dividing hostas. (That was a long time ago.) Implicitly, you had to agree not to rip it the hostas until after that window passed. > > If I’d bought the house, i think i would have kept the hosta garden. 😃 I might have too, unless it was hostas to the near exclusion of everything else (some hostaphiles are like that). In any event, requiring access after the sale to take divisions of plants reflects poor planning by the seller. Well before we put our previous house on the market, I potted up or took cuttings/divisions of plants I wanted, which have found a new home here in Kentucky. The seller in this instance also thought ahead, taking rose cuttings which were adopted by a neighbor, in case the seller’s daughter(s) wanted the plants in the future. As for sports celebrities having trouble selling highly individualized properties, the classic example is Michael Jordan’s estate in Highland Park, Illinois, which went up for sale for $29 million, but still couldn’t find a buyer after 9 years even when marked down nearly 50% (it is currently off the market according to Zillow). But hey, if you want a full-sized indoor basketball court, an enormous exercise facility and the number 23 emblazoned on the front gates, it’s the place for you. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2021, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/42 "2021-08-15T21:50:55Z")
Some people have an exaggerated idea of residential presentation. As a real estate agent, I see nothing wrong with a puzzle on the table. I might even suggest that each prospect add a piece to the puzzle for fun. It takes all kinds. I had a seller who got upset when I showed her house to a prospect on short notice and I didn’t give her enough time to tidy up. Turns out the only thing out of place in her immaculate house was a dish and fork on the sink, left over from breakfast. She wanted to cancel the listing because I showed it in that condition and she was embarrassed. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/43 "2021-08-16T13:03:07Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > It takes all kinds. I had a seller who got upset when I showed her house to a prospect on short notice and I didn’t give her enough time to tidy up. Turns out the only thing out of place in her immaculate house was a dish and fork on the sink, left over from breakfast. She wanted to cancel the listing because I showed it in that condition and she was embarrassed. My wife has had too many clients like this unfortunately. One client, if the prospective buyers didn’t show up exactly on time for the viewing [like within 2 minutes of the schedule time] would want to cancel the appointment and go back into the house. My wife would advise them not to be in the house when there was a showing, because they could get enraged at anything that they interpreted as criticism of the house. And also put into the listing that they would bill the buyers agent for cleaning the house if their clients went into the house with shoes. My wife had provided a box of disposable slippers by the door, but people would just ignore the instructions, and my wife would have to explain to her client that you can’t really bill agents because they walked through your house with “outside shoes” unless they previously walked through a grease puddle or something. Eventually my wife decided this person was too high maintenance and fired them as a client. I see the home is still listed three months later in a market where houses are selling over asking price in a day or two. Just asking too much for their Perfect Home. No one is paying a $100k premium for your Zen garden and Chinese redwood built-ins. Most buyers are thinking, “I need to rip them out and put in a pool and regular bookcases/shelves, that’s going to COST $40k.” ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/44 "2021-08-16T13:15:41Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > When i was house shopping, one house had an extensive hosta garden. I have looked up a new word today. ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/45 "2021-08-16T13:17:51Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > The couple rejected the house– _because they didn’t like the carpet that the house currently had_ . What the prospective buyers _said_ turned them off vs. what actually did may be very different things. Perhaps the place smelled bad, or they didn’t like the look of the neighbors. It’s easier just to blame something trivial. ---
**Author:** ![Ranch\_Dip](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranch_dip/32/5238_2.png) [@Ranch\_Dip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranch_Dip)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/46 "2021-08-16T17:56:59Z")
Honestly, I’d put my puzzle away so some asshat couldn’t take one piece. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/47 "2021-08-16T18:57:21Z")
I’m not going to worry about anything when I have to sell our house. It has such a funky floorplan that it was on the market a month when I bought it (in an active market). It is the opposite of an open concept, it has tile counters and magenta floor tiles, the original carpet in grey color, built in shelves (that even I don’t like), plus a style of when it was built (1986, and funky for then even\*) and any number of things buyers hate. It also has an unfinished room. No one is going to buy it for what it is, so I’m not going to bother. Let them gut it. \* the same independent builder built most of the houses on our street. The good part is, no two are the same. The bad part is, they’re all weird in their own way. Want a hot tub in the middle of the bedroom? You got it! Malibu beach house in the middle of the desert? Here it is! The “mailbu house” has been gutted and redecorated by everyone that has bought it since I’ve been here. I’m not even sure if anyone lives there. Maybe someday someone will buy it and like it. So far, not. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/48 "2021-08-17T12:57:00Z")
After a few decades here, it’s getting closer to the time when we will need to move. My wife has a good eye for interior design, so most of the place looks pretty sharp, and the last time we sold a house, the place sold super fast. The problem will be the basement. I have a machine shop set up there, with various machines that bring me great joy as I make little steam engines. The space is finished, with tile floor, so it tidies up quite nicely, but it’s not like I can put a metal lathe or milling machine away during open house showings… Surely there will be a few folks who will think “Cool! I can see myself making lots of neat stuff here!”, but that will be a minority, and the rest will be turned off by such a place. I think I’ll have to get rid of everything in the lead up to putting the house on the market–I don’t plan on taking the machine tools wherever we go. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/49 "2021-08-17T14:23:20Z")
Are you buying new tools, or giving up your hobby? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/50 "2021-08-17T14:54:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And here, I was thinking when I saw the title that this was supposed to go the other way: That having a jigsaw puzzle sitting out would make the house look more “homey”, like a place that real people would live in. That’s indeed what I thought this thread was going to be about, akin to stuff like “bake some bread when selling a house so the smell permeates the rooms (or at least the kitchen)” so it evokes some homey feelings of nostalgia or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/51 "2021-08-17T15:30:48Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > The buyers of our house had ripped out the entire rose garden, plants, mulch, bricks and all. They had put in sod. One place we sold had beautiful, full lush azaleas along the driveway. The buyer slashed them down to 2’ tall, mostly stick border. I’m glad we moved several hundred miles away. I couldn’t bear seeing the place after then. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/52 "2021-08-17T20:29:50Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > My wife’s pride and joy was her rose garden. She spent eight years building up a beautiful collection in a concentric pattern of quarter circles separated by brick walks. People in the neighborhood would come to take pictures there before going to prom. > > We sold the house, moved out and a few weeks later I returned to that street to return something to one of our former neighbors. The buyers of our house had ripped out the entire rose garden, plants, mulch, bricks and all. They had put in sod. > > When I got home my wife asked how the rose garden looked. I told her it was lovely. Fortunately we had moved 50+ miles away and she never had occasion to back there. What is wrong with people like that? It’s not even as if they’re that much hard work. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/53 "2021-08-17T20:36:50Z")
I figured they wanted a larger open space in the lawn for the kids or dog to run un-impeded. A formal(ish) rose garden is not for everyone. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/54 "2021-08-17T20:46:09Z")
I guess if there was no other space, that’s fair enough. But it’s still sad. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/55 "2021-08-17T21:37:11Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Empty houses might be okay but are less appealing than neat, staged houses. Obvious staging doesn’t work either. For me personally, I prefer furniture in a room, because empty rooms seem smaller to me than ones with furniture. I see an empty room, and if it’s not obviously huge, I think my furniture will never fit in this room. But – surprise! – it really does. > [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > My wife would advise them not to be in the house when there was a showing, because they could get enraged at anything that they interpreted as criticism of the house. There was a show on the old Discovery Home cable channel that was a lot of fun to watch. It was one of those “help the homeowners sell their unsellable house” shows. The set up was that the show scheduled an open house, but there were hidden cameras in all the rooms. Then, the homeowners got to see and hear what people were honestly saying about their wonderful house. Needless to say, there was a lot of disillusionment! ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/56 "2021-08-17T21:40:29Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > I guess if there was no other space, that’s fair enough. But it’s still sad. Sad, maybe to you. But the new homeowners clearly didn’t value it much and to them it was just dead space. This is why realtors want houses as neutral as possible, to appeal to the widest variety of buyers. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/57 "2021-08-17T21:49:45Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Sad, maybe to you. But the new homeowners clearly didn’t value it much and to them it was just dead space. This is why realtors want houses as neutral as possible, to appeal to the widest variety of buyers. That’s what I was thinking, but fortunately for the health of my marriage, and possibly my bodily health, I refrained from saying so to my wife! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/58 "2021-08-17T21:52:55Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > That’s indeed what I thought this thread was going to be about, akin to stuff like “bake some bread when selling a house so the smell permeates the rooms (or at least the kitchen)” so it evokes some homey feelings of nostalgia or something like that. Around here a few people have to be gluten free but half the people think they should be gluten free, so the smell of bread isn’t going to work at all well. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/59 "2021-08-17T22:29:19Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Sad, maybe to you. But the new homeowners clearly didn’t value it much and to them it was just dead space. This is why realtors want houses as neutral as possible, to appeal to the widest variety of buyers. Yeah… But I don’t think anyone would recommend cutting down a rose garden unless it was the entirety of the outside space. A lot of people would pay a premium for a developed flower garden. Neutral doesn’t have to mean dead. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655/60 "2021-08-17T22:43:59Z")
I have a bunch of plants from the garden of a friend who moved. It was a garden full of beautiful stuff, but the overall appearance was sloppy. The realtor suggested he get rid of it. So he invited all his friends over, first, to dig out whatever we wanted. I took bearded irises and day lilies and some peonies, i gave peonies to a friend, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-house-with-a-jigsaw-puzzle-on-the-table/948655.md?page=4)