A 1923 home at 25 Burnett Terrace in Maplewood, NJ, that had not seen a meaningful update in over two decades sold for $1,188,000 — 48.5% over its $800,000 list price — after a strategic preparation process led by Mark Slade of Mark Slade Homes. The property closed in just six weeks, with 16 offers and a final sale price $388,000 above asking.
The home's basement initially read as a dungeon, with corrugated plastic sheeting covering windows for 23 years. In the final 24 hours before launch, Slade's team removed the panels and cleaned the glass, transforming the room. Other prep work included painting dark wood paneling in the sun room to a dove white, replacing five light fixtures, adding a balustrade to an open staircase using wooden lattice, and touching up peeling paint. Fresh flowers, planters, and full staging were added, and tree branches blocking sightlines were trimmed.
Slade explains the psychology behind the preparation using a taxi analogy: buyers walk in with a number in their head, and every imperfection they notice starts running that meter backward. A cracked window or dark basement alone may not be dealbreakers, but they stack, and a buyer who catalogs ten small problems is less likely to go well over asking. The goal is to fix what's running the meter before launch day.
The property launched at $800,000, drawing 70 groups to open houses and 32 buyer agency appointments. Sixteen offers came in, and after inviting the top three back for best and final, the winning offer was $1,188,000 — the highest such result in Maplewood year to date. The sellers, empty nesters who had already moved out, chose the team partly because Slade offered to manage contractors in their absence, being on-site daily or every other day during prep.
This result argues against the instinct of many sellers with dated properties to price low and hope for the best. A home that hasn't been updated in 20 years is not automatically a liability; it becomes one only when it launches before the right work is done. For sellers thinking about listing, the starting point is a walkthrough, not a price conversation. Visit the seller resources page at Mark Slade Homes to learn more about the preparation process.
