Call Me Crazy…But Painted Lawns?

Westcoe Realtors, Riverside California…Ok…so I couldn’ t let a recent article in the local Press Enterprise go without comment, but sometimes, does it seem like the entire world has lost it’s mind?

The upshot of the article was that some bank repo properties (and individual sellers too) are spray painting their brown, dead lawns green with the hope that this will look better and lead to a faster sale.  It is noted that this has become a common practice for football fields with poor turf, or some golf courses with dormant grass (dormant=brown) and is done to make them look better from a distance…or when television is involved.  I suppose that may be justified when looking on your TV screen or from the nosebleed seats at a large football stadium, but at a house for sale?

Call me crazy, but who does anyone think they are fooling?  Dead grass is dead grass, whether the color is brown or green.  Also, does anyone think that the potential new buyer will not notice the dead grass has been painted?  I can see it now….”Look honey, new plush grass…this is great!”  You’ve got to be kidding here…not to mention the disclosures that would need to be made.

The bottom line is that this is one of those really ridiculous ideas that people who know nothing about marketing a home latch onto in a bad sellers market as the “magic pill” that will somehow get their home sold.  What a shame that someone actually thinks this will work.   Your home is not on TV, and is not 300 yards away from the buyer.  Your buyer will certainly walk-up your walkway, and unless they are clueless, they will see the lawn is dead.  What’s worse, since the dead lawn will be readily apparent, chances are they will begin to wonder what else has been “camouflaged”, and they may become suspect for anything else that may be hidden from them.  I would.

So…take it from someone who has been in this business for over 30 years…let this new “idea” die like the lawn.  Go natural, and green the lawn the old fashioned way.  Like I said…call me crazy.