A 1923 home at 25 Burnett Terrace in Maplewood, New Jersey, that had seen no meaningful updates in over 20 years sold for $1,188,000—48.5% above 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 the winning offer coming in $388,000 over asking, the highest such result in Maplewood year to date.
The home, which had been occupied by empty nesters who had already moved out, required extensive work. The basement, a particular problem, had its windows covered with corrugated plastic sheeting for 23 years, leaving the room dark and dungeon-like. In the final 24 hours before launch, the team removed the panels, cleaned the glass, and restored natural light, transforming the space. Other preparations included painting dark wood paneling in the sun room with dove white paint, replacing five light fixtures on the first floor, and adding a balustrade to the open staircase to the third floor—a task Slade handled himself using wooden lattice and paint found in the garage.
Slade uses a taxi analogy to explain the psychology behind the prep: buyers enter a home with a mental price, and every imperfection they notice—a cracked window, a dark basement, an unfinished staircase—runs that number down. None are dealbreakers alone, but they accumulate. The goal is to fix what drives the meter down before launch. The property was fully staged, tree branches were trimmed for visibility, mulch was laid, and fresh flowers and planters were placed throughout.
The market responded strongly: 70 groups attended open houses, 32 buyer agency appointments followed, and 16 offers came in. The top three were statistically tied, so all three were invited to submit best-and-final offers. Two returned with higher numbers, and the winning offer closed at $1,188,000.
The sellers, who had already moved out, chose Slade's team partly because of the offer to manage contractors in their absence. Slade was on-site every day or every other day during the preparation period, overseeing work and handling repairs himself.
The result challenges the instinct among sellers of dated properties to price low and apologize for the home's condition. According to Slade, a home that hasn't been updated in 20 years is not automatically a liability—it becomes one only if it launches before the right work is done. The gap between a property's condition on day one of a walkthrough and its condition on launch day is where such results are made. For sellers considering listing, the starting point is a walkthrough, not a price conversation. More information about the preparation process is available on the seller resources page at Mark Slade Homes.
