Should people of color remove pictures when they sell their home? (Part II)
As I mentioned in my earlier post, we put our house (which sits in an integrated neighborhood) on the market at the beginning of July but left up three pieces of Black art.
After five weeks and several open houses without a contract, I sold out. I went to Target and purchased two pieces of generic art that you might see in a hotel for a total of about $125.
I replaced the Thurgood Marshall picture over the fireplace with "Down the Lane":
I replaced the Funeral Procession with "Stately Palm":
I also removed from my shelves books that had “race” or “black” in the title, like “Black Intellectuals,” “African American Historic Places,” and “Black Genius.” I did not remove books that had a civil rights theme but did not use the word “Black” or “race,” and thus Charles Ogletree’s “All Deliberate Speed” remained and so did Lani Guinier’s “Lift Every Voice.” We also lowered our price by $15,000.
A day or so later I was working in my basement office. I took a break to go upstairs to grab a Diet Coke, and as walked up the stairs and opened the door a middle-aged white woman, who was in my foyer, saw me, gasped, and jumped back (I was a bit startled as well). I explained to her that I owned the house, and I looked toward her agent and asked whether she called earlier (agents generally call before bringing a client over, and they have access to a “lockbox” that allows them to get to a key and open the house if no one is home). She explained that she did not call, and in an attempt to restore some normalcy to the situation, I gave them a tour of the house. The frightened woman did not make an offer.
A couple of days later we received an offer that was for $10,000 below our original asking price ($5000 over the amended asking price), and was contingent on the potential buyers selling their home. The contingency made the offer less than attractive, but in light of the sparse interest up until that point, we took it. During the inspection we discovered that the potential buyers were Black, and I don’t know if they saw the house before or after we deracialized it. Entering into the contract effectively removed our house from the market in mid-August.
By mid-September, it was clear that the potential buyer would be unable to fulfill their contingency and sell their home (I don’t know whether they deracialized their place). We got out of that contract, and put the house back on the market for $5500 below the original asking price. Two other homes were on the market—one was priced $10,500 higher than ours, and the other was priced about $44,000 higher. Both had white family pictures. One had Christian religious symbols and the other had Jewish religious symbols (to be fair, our house had small framed version of Hebrews 11:1 (“Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”) and a Bible within a stack of two or three books on the bedstand in the master bedroom).During our second period on the market, we had two open houses. We also raced to leave for a Starbucks or some other destination whenever an agent called to say she would arrive in 20 minutes with a client, as our efforts with the art and books would count for little if we crossed paths with the potential buyers. After a week and a half of our house being back on the market (12 weeks after we originally put it on the market), we received an offer on our deracialized house that had no contingencies and matched our asking price ($5500 below the original asking price). We accepted the offer (those who made the offer did not appear to be Black), and hopefully we’ll close at the end of the month.
This experience has raised a few issues in my mind.
Was my concern about deracializing the house unwarranted? Was it simply a summer lull, with potential buyers on vacation, that caused the first two houses in my community to sell so quickly while mine remained on the market for 12 weeks? Or did a subconscious factor shape the minds of some potential buyers in their search for a “dreamhouse” that would be, up until this point, perhaps the most significant purchase of their lives?
More research is needed on this question, but if an empirical study were to show that homes that have evidence of Black ownership stay on the market longer and receive, on average, lower offers than other homes, what does this mean? While law can regulate sellers, how could it possibly be an effective tool for regulating buyers? If my agent was of a different mind and suggested that I take down the art, would her advice have violated a fair housing regulation? Would it have been dishonest to put up pictures of a white family? (My wife’s stepfather is white, and she repeatedly joked that we should erect pictures of his "side" of the family!)
Did we compromise our identity by removing the art and books, and should we have just taken the financial hit? Or should we simply be grateful that our 3-year-old son wasn’t old enough to understand that we hid our identity in a basement closet and file cabinet? Or is this just part of being adults? Are we fortunate that one of our more significant problems in life is how much appreciation we'll be able to squeeze out of a robust housing market relative to our white neighbors?
Comments
"Did we compromise our identity by removing the art and books, and should we have just taken the financial hit?"
What's the evidence that you would have taken a financial hit if you left the art up? You received an offer in the end that was, regardless, lower than your original price. So perhaps, your original price was the problem.
You also mention the "summer lull" and timing of your original decision to put the house on the market, and the final sale (apparently) took place after the end of such a lull, so that may have been the factor, or at least a contributing factor.
I know that the contents of a home make a difference on the sale--even though people should try to imagine *their* belongings in a space, rather than the current occupant. However, you have so many variables described here that I think it's nearly impossible to draw a conclusion that any one factor was determinative.
Obviously *you* are conflicted about removing your artwork--that doesn't mean potential buyers were influenced one way or the other by it.
Posted by: Dave! | October 11, 2005 11:57 AM
I would suggest that where you are makes a BIG difference (Texas probably, California maybe not). In Texas, I took my Black family photos down even as my White friend and realtor told me I was being paranoid. "People in this neighborhood don't care about that," she said--a 94% White, 4% Asian, 2% Black/Latino/other neighborhood.Until a prospective White buyer happened to see my husband and said to her "you wouldn't even know they were Black to look at the house." She was furious, but admitted I was not paranoid, rather, she was naive.
Posted by: Olivia | October 11, 2005 01:40 PM
A wise real estate agent encourages all clients to completely depersonalize their house for sale. According to most sources, depersonalizing the house allows potential buyers to imagine their stuff in the house, making it easier to sell. When I sold my house, I didn't get a single offer until I took down every family photo, every painting, every thing that indicated my personality. I don't know if it is worse when the sellers are black (I'm not), but I do know that I had no success until my house was fairly impersonal.
Posted by: flaime | October 11, 2005 04:20 PM
While its an interesting question, it is important that whatever result follows from an empirical study be framed in the context of "all else equal."
While I'm sure the Thurgood Marshall painting was nice, the painting you replaced it with might, in fact, be nicer. Perhaps the pastoral scene added significantly to the room?
You also say: "While law can regulate sellers, how could it possibly be an effective tool for regulating buyers? "
Bringing in more government regulation is not an effective means of addressing discrimination by buyers. Invariably buyers will respond by simply avoiding making an offer on ANY black person's house because they want to avoid legal action.
Discrimination is unfortunate. But the individual's best alternative is simply to try to make the house most attractive to sellers - whoever they may be. If this means that a Jewish couple living in a very Christian area remove symbols of their faith, however distasteful this may be to us, this is that couple's best course of action.
I think government policy responses to discrimination suffer from the same weaknesses as its policy responses to drugs. The assumption is that regulation can make both simply go away. I think, in both cases, this is a highly unrealistic expectation and such an approch ignores the strategic manipulation that individuals will take in response to regulation.
The best way to deal with discrimination is to render it irrational. Irrational discrimination will always exist because some people are, and will always be, bigots. But the vast majority of discrimination is rational and based on statistical truths. And this is the discrimination that can be prevented - not through government coordination but through the uncoordinated "market responses" of individuals.
Posted by: Aaron Chalfin | October 11, 2005 05:07 PM
While its an interesting question, it is important that whatever result follows from an empirical study be framed in the context of "all else equal."
While I'm sure the Thurgood Marshall painting was nice, the painting you replaced it with might, in fact, be nicer. Perhaps the pastoral scene added significantly to the room?
You also say: "While law can regulate sellers, how could it possibly be an effective tool for regulating buyers? "
Bringing in more government regulation is not an effective means of addressing discrimination by buyers. Invariably buyers will respond by simply avoiding making an offer on ANY black person's house because they want to avoid legal action.
Discrimination is unfortunate. But the individual's best alternative is simply to try to make the house most attractive to sellers - whoever they may be. If this means that a Jewish couple living in a very Christian area remove symbols of their faith, however distasteful this may be to us, this is that couple's best course of action.
I think government policy responses to discrimination suffer from the same weaknesses as its policy responses to drugs. The assumption is that regulation can make both simply go away. I think, in both cases, this is a highly unrealistic expectation and such an approch ignores the strategic manipulation that individuals will take in response to regulation.
The best way to deal with discrimination is to render it irrational. Irrational discrimination will always exist because some people are, and will always be, bigots. But the vast majority of discrimination is rational and based on statistical truths. And this is the discrimination that can be prevented - not through government coordination but through the uncoordinated "market responses" of individuals.
Posted by: Aaron Chalfin | October 11, 2005 05:08 PM
While its an interesting question, it is important that whatever result follows from an empirical study be framed in the context of "all else equal."
While I'm sure the Thurgood Marshall painting was nice, the painting you replaced it with might, in fact, be nicer. Perhaps the pastoral scene added significantly to the room?
You also say: "While law can regulate sellers, how could it possibly be an effective tool for regulating buyers? "
Bringing in more government regulation is not an effective means of addressing discrimination by buyers. Invariably buyers will respond by simply avoiding making an offer on ANY black person's house because they want to avoid legal action.
Discrimination is unfortunate. But the individual's best alternative is simply to try to make the house most attractive to sellers - whoever they may be. If this means that a Jewish couple living in a very Christian area remove symbols of their faith, however distasteful this may be to us, this is that couple's best course of action.
I think government policy responses to discrimination suffer from the same weaknesses as its policy responses to drugs. The assumption is that regulation can make both simply go away. I think, in both cases, this is a highly unrealistic expectation and such an approch ignores the strategic manipulation that individuals will take in response to regulation.
The best way to deal with discrimination is to render it irrational. Irrational discrimination will always exist because some people are, and will always be, bigots. But the vast majority of discrimination is rational and based on statistical truths. And this is the discrimination that can be prevented - not through government coordination but through the uncoordinated "market responses" of individuals.
Posted by: Aaron Chalfin | October 11, 2005 05:10 PM
In my viewpoint, there are many variables to selling a home, including, but not limited to the "personalization" factor. As pointed out in one white respondent's comments - his/her real estate agent informed them prior to placing the home on the market that de-personalization is key in selling any house. Thus the conclusion that a home which is racially personalized could overshadow this widely-held belief is naive, [unless, perhaps, the home is for sale in some geographical area that is culturally slanted in favor of blacks (e.g. Harlem or Atlanta or sections of D.C. and Detroit)]. Everything isn't primarily about race. Some things are...but maybe not this.
Posted by: Michele | October 11, 2005 08:06 PM
Good on you.
Would you polish a car and valet it before selling it? Of course you would. This is no different. It is what you do to sell at the best price.
What I would love to do (in your position) would be to have the whole deal done without meeting the other party at all. Then leave a family portrait in the lounge when you move out. If the new owner bases his price on racial bias then they deserve the shock.
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Posted by: Aaron Chalfin | October 12, 2005 12:05 AM
I sold a house in Keller, TX which is a white suburb of Fort Worth. When I bought the house I told the agent to find me an area where houses resell at a face rate.
I had to leave Keller faced because of the racist school system. My house has African and African American artwork. Since I lived in Europe and Africa my wife tastefully decorated the place. We had a pictures up and you knew we were African American. But the place was esquisite by any standard (that is how we roll). We had an offer in 3 months. I can't tell you what whites were offended but we got compliments galore from all who viewed.
I know there are racists out there, but, I feel that if the house is staged properly even with your family pics and priced properly it will sale.
Posted by: Tucker | October 12, 2005 05:36 AM
Actually, I suspect that you did sell out by removing your personal items; but that is what you are supposed to do when you are selling. Remember those who come to purchase your wares are buying it for their benefit. In the case of a home, the prospective buyers like to see themselves in the home sans the seller. Unless you were going to live there with the new owners, then you did the right thing.
Posted by: NickyJett | October 12, 2005 05:11 PM
10 13 05
I think that no one should remove their paintings or other belongings to appease the potential buyer. I would not want someone to purchase my home that was predjudiced and it is against my beliefs to cater to those jerks. When removing your pics or wallhangings etc, you are tacitly accomodating racists. And you do your neighbors a disservice as well. What if a person bought your home who was a racist and didn't know you were of color? Your next door neighbors would be living next door to a redneck. No this ain't cool. We have accomodated to everyone for far too long, I say screw it and sell your home to the right person who doesn't care about that stuff...
Posted by: mahndisa s. rigmaiden | October 13, 2005 01:49 PM
10 13 05
"But the vast majority of discrimination is rational and based on statistical truths. And this is the discrimination that can be prevented - not through government coordination but through the uncoordinated "market responses" of individuals. "
Aaron:
I disagree with you on this one. Discrimination existed long before adequate statistics were ever collected on crime, race, class and the like. Furthermore, you sound like a Bell Curve supporter. Statistics can be bastardized to prove almost any hypothesis. We can do bootstraping and Monte Carlo simulations, but what do they REALLY tell us? Please, you are woefully incorrect with the above statement. Stats can be used to JUSTIFY predjudice, not be the basis for it.
Posted by: mahndisa s. rigmaiden | October 13, 2005 07:06 PM
I have purchased five homes over the last 32 years and sold four. The first two were sold to white couples. The third house was sold to a black couple. The last home was sold to a hispanic couple. Three of the homes were in predominately white areas and the one sold to the black couple was in a predominately black area. I didn't remove pictures from any of the homes. In all cases I met the couple that bought my home. All four of my homes sold in less than a month. The last home a sold on the same day it was put on the market by the first couple viewing it. The common thread in my opinion was living in a good area whether it was black or white and good maintenance both inside in out.
Posted by: Marvin Howard | October 14, 2005 02:40 PM
I guess I sold out too...I just put my house on the market, and not wanting to even have to deal with racism, I removed all personal pictures. Knowing I would have many white potential buyers going through my home, I took "When Affirmative Action Was White" and "Sundown Towns" off my bookshelf.
Maybe I was being overly paranoid, but who needs the potential hassle?
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