How to respond?

RalphLambrecht · Mar 5, 2017

I can't believe what just happened.Our house is on the market.Yesterday our agent held an open house and 30+ people came and took a look.One person found my images on the wall(all my own photographs)offensive,called the agency and demanded that these pictures are taken down. I am now pressured by the agent to take them down to avoid a distraction from the home and to theeby increase the chances of a sale. My first reaction is f&#ck 'em but how would you respond.The images in question are all on my website at rlambrec.com

dpurdy · Mar 5, 2017

You must have your nudes or erotica on your walls. I have offended people with my non offensive work as well. Some people have a knee jerk reaction to nudity in photography.
My advice depends on how big a hurry you are in to sell. I think it is probable that with that work on the walls, people are going to be somewhat distracted from focusing on the house. I would probably leave it up out of my tendency to be defiant but it might be smarter to let people see empty walls.

bdial · Mar 5, 2017

That would be my first reaction too.
But, when you're on the sales side, you probably need to pay attention to a potential buyer's taste rather than yours. Though it does seem a little much for an open house attendee to make demands.

samcomet · Mar 5, 2017

Hey Ralph,
I have always found your photographs to be of superior quality and crafts-person-ship . They would be the antithesis of offensive to my taste. In point of fact I find them exceedingly tasteful in the exploration of the human form. My reaction, FWIW, would be your first reaction. The prospective buyer is not buying your prints, rather they are buying (maybe) your house. If I were in your position, not knowing the market where you live, I would say to the agent that "I am proud of my work and stand by their display". I wish you the best of luck in selling the house and getting a good price and perhaps an intelligent buyer who may also want to purchase some of your fab photographs to boot!
cheers,
Sam

bvy · Mar 5, 2017

The bottom line is if a buyer want the house badly enough, that's not going to be a deterrent of any sort. But if it's causing a major stir, you could end up with the problem of agents not wanting to show the house at all because it makes them uncomfortable.

pentaxuser · Mar 5, 2017

My guess and that is all it can be, is that the person who found them offensive and is demanding they are taken down has already transferred his attitude to the purchase of the house and is unlikely to be a person with whom a mutually beneficial house sale and purchase can be achieved so no great loss.

Your agent's opinion is much better than mine on how much the offended person wants the house. If he/she is by far the best prospect then it is your own view on how much you can submit to the demand without feeling demeaned that counts.

Would I submit to this demand? Not in a million years but I have to admit that subconsciously my stand may be conditioned by the fact that the demand for houses in my area of the U.K. is so great that I know that there will be plenty of willing buyers with no such demand as has been made to you

Best of luck with the sale

pentaxuser

GregW · Mar 5, 2017

You're selling the house not your work. In my opinion the best way to sell a house is to stage it sparsely with nice plants and tasteful furniture. I'd store any photos of people, portraits etc, quirky or edgy furniture, sculpture and maybe leave up a few landscapes. Nothing to obstruct the buyer's attention and ability to project themselves into the place. Listen to your realtor, they know what they are doing. The only time you should meet a buyer btw is at the closing.

BrianShaw · Mar 5, 2017

its hard to believe that someone actually complained. What's up with that? But your agent should have suggested removal of "personal" items before the house was shown. Unfortunately it's a distraction from your first goal: selling. The part of selling a house that I find so very difficult is that one cannot live a normal life during the process. But key your eye on the goal...

BrianShaw · Mar 5, 2017

BTW, Ralph. Send them to me and I'd be happy to display them until you get settled into your next residence. They are waaaaay better than anything I've ever done!

cliveh · Mar 5, 2017

That's like complaining about the colour of your furniture. As others have said they are buying the house, not what is in it.

RSalles · Mar 5, 2017

Could be an fanatic idiot religious, Ralph. Display a bigger copy and send him to his hell.
Don't let the "taste" of ignorants drive your actions, never, ever.

Cheers,

Renato

superpos · Mar 5, 2017

Take them off!

… or ask them to pay for viewing your images!

Really: it is not worth it; first target is to sell your home so make it as pleasant for “normal people” as possible.

And anything not 100% mainstream might reduce the price.

Pack them for your move to Germany!

Cheers

Ulrich

mynewcolour · Mar 5, 2017

Some people are easily offended. Easier said than done but ... don't take it personally.

If the agent thinks a 'blank slate' will help the place sell I'd be inclined to take their advice.

keenmaster486 · Mar 5, 2017

My initial reaction would be to say "screw you" as well...

But I would also not want to ruin my chances of selling the house with something as trivial as this.

On the other hand, what kind of person judges a house by what hangs on the walls?

Rick A · Mar 5, 2017

Ralph, our house is on the market as well, I had to take down all my photos. We decided to show the house with bare walls, which I think is a big mistake, but the realtor insisted on "austere" I hate selling my home, but we need to down size so we are moving into a house half the size of this, and only one floor, and maybe no darkroom for a while. Good luck with the sale of your house.

markbarendt · Mar 5, 2017

RalphLambrecht said:
I can't believe what just happened.Our house is on the market.Yesterday our agent held an open house and 30+ people came and took a look.One person found my images on the wall(all my own photographs)offensive,called the agency and demanded that these pictures are taken down. I am now pressured by the agent to take them down to avoid a distraction from the home and to theeby increase the chances of a sale. My first reaction is f&#ck 'em but how would you respond.The images in question are all on my website at rlambrec.com

You're moving, right?

The prints aren't part of the sale, right?

Start packing.

Don't get distracted from the task at hand.

Sirius Glass · Mar 5, 2017

I would tend to go with your first reaction. Some are too easily offended. If the photograph is too close to the line, then maybe remove it. Otherwise, go with your intuitions, which are good.

TheToadMen · Mar 5, 2017

I'm not going into a discussion about people being offended or not (or whatever).

In general it is a good idea to show a house and not its contents, whatever style or taste. An empty house is easier to be seen by the buyer as his next house with his interior and stuff, than that he has to look "through" all the furniture, decorating, art, books, clothing, fish tanks, etc. of the previous owner. Empty rooms and walls also make a house look bigger and give more opportunity for the viewer's own imagination.

So, yes: remove the photographs and other (personal) items to let the house show itself to potential buyers and their imagination.

Sirius Glass · Mar 5, 2017

TheToadMen said:
I'm not going into a discussion about people being offended or not (or whatever).

In general it is a good idea to show a house and not its contents, whatever style or taste. An empty house is easier to be seen by the buyer as his next house with his interior and stuff, than that he has to look "through" all the furniture, decorating, art, books, clothing, fish tanks, etc. of the previous owner. Empty rooms and walls also make a house look bigger and give more opportunity for the viewer's own imagination.

So, yes: remove the photographs and other (personal) items to let the house show itself to potential buyers and their imagination.

Marketing research has shown that empty houses do not sell as easily or for as much as furnished houses. That is why empty houses are staged with furniture.

pentaxuser · Mar 5, 2017

Let us not forget that Will Kane could have left Hadleyville with his bride and in all probability avoided conflict with Frank Miller for the rest of his life but he felt he'd lie a coward in his grave and he couldn't live with that.

pentaxuser

TheToadMen · Mar 5, 2017

Sirius Glass said:
Marketing research has shown that empty houses do not sell as easily or for as much as furnished houses. That is why empty houses are staged with furniture.

I stand corrected: I didn't want Ralph to completely empty his house (while still living in it), but less personal stuff and less content (thus emptier) do help the sales.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 5, 2017

RSalles said:
Could be an fanatic idiot religious, Ralph. Display a bigger copy and send him to his hell.
Don't let the "taste" of ignorants drive your actions, never, ever.

Cheers,

Renato

thanks all for their view. We went with another solution and hung a sign over each picture

mgb74 · Mar 5, 2017

FWIW, I've been told by more than one real estate agent that family photos should be removed. The logic is that the buyer has to envision it as their house, not your house that they are occupying. If they are nudes, and they don't envision nudes on the wall of their house, they'll be uncomfortable. Just as I wouldn't bring up nude photos on an office computer, I wouldn't have them on the wall during "public" showings.

The potential buyers aren't your friends and their inhibitions don't reflect on you. Take them down, sell your house, and enjoy wherever you're going.

MattKing · Mar 5, 2017

Most realtors will advise you to reduce decorations and personal effects to a minimum. It makes it easier for prospective purchasers to envision their stuff in what is your home.
As for the content of Ralph's photos, while they wouldn't offend me, I also wouldn't be upset if some others are made uncomfortable by them.
And with respect to the issue of artistic freedom, I wonder if would we be saying the same thing if a prospective purchaser complained about walls covered with Anne Geddes' work? Or Wiemeraners dressed in costumes?

BrianShaw · Mar 5, 2017

RalphLambrecht said:
thanks all for their view. We went with another solution and hung a sign over each picture

That should work! Now keep track of how many potential buyers lift the cover to see what's beneath!!

How to respond?

RalphLambrecht

dpurdy

bdial

samcomet

bvy

pentaxuser

GregW

BrianShaw

BrianShaw

cliveh

RSalles

superpos

mynewcolour

keenmaster486

Rick A

markbarendt

Sirius Glass

TheToadMen

Sirius Glass

pentaxuser

TheToadMen

RalphLambrecht

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