The Blue Bungalow

Longtime residents,  daffodil planters, community organizers, and caretakers in their North Oakland neighborhood, Sherri and Tim were finally ready to retire and have someone take care of  them.

For two years, we talked about how to optimize their home for the market. Slowly but surely, they executed every suggestion I made, except one. I recommended that they paint their house a nice warm gray for maximum appeal, but the next time I visited them, I was greeted by a very blue house with crisp white trim. Sherri didn’t have the heart to wash all the personality out of their house to neutralize it for the market.

5527 Fremont Street, Oakland: The Blue Bungalow

I decided to turn that blue house into its own brand, and dubbed it The Blue Bungalow. People loved it — everyone wanted to see the blue bungalow, and buyers referred to it by name. I received inquiries and requests for information about ‘‘the blue bungalow’’ and emails with the subject line ‘‘Blue Bungalow.” Upon entering the public open houses, visitors announced, ‘‘We just had to see the blue bungalow”!

If Sherri had not painted her house blue, I would not have had this opportunity to give my listing its own unique brand and personality. Turning a potential negative into a positive, we embraced Sherri’s choice, and made sure the house was a hit in every way, supported by new light fixtures, updated appliances, cool rubber tile that replaced torn linoleum, new bath vanities, and perhaps most of all, the fresh blue paint on the outside.

Seven buyers competed for the house on offer day, and the winning buyers included a photo of themselves with their offer, standing in front of the Blue Bungalow. They do not intend to re-paint it.

Update:
Three years after the blue bungalow sold, it remains the blue bungalow, as cute and as blue as ever. And now, there are strollers on the front porch and happy laughter in the back yard.

Inside the Blue Bungalow