As some of you might know, in between writing a dissertation, I'm also on the hunt for a new place to live. Lena and I have decided that we want to try to find a house in Vanløse - like all the other boring academics in our segment.
The housemarket in the Copenhagen area is plummeting at the moment, which means that it is not a bad time to be on hunt - if you plan not to sell within the next few years. It also means that there are a huge amount of houses for sale, which in turn means that Lena and I spend nearly every Sunday on seeing houses.
After having seen the first 30 houses, I'm quite amazed that there are so few sellers who makes the extra effort in trying to present their house in the best way possible - spending perhaps just a few thousand kr on this. For example, always paint walls and ceilings white! You can never go wrong with white - everything else can look silly to some people. And it makes rooms look larger, and more clean. And always clean up and consider stoving away a few tons of your stuff in some cellar. I've been to more than one home, where it smelled just plain bad. Given other choices in the same category - this is not something I'm likely to buy.
I, like most people, I guess, am also susceptible to be impressed if the seller has really good or expensive style. I'm getting better at seeing past this - but it's still something I have to consciously think past. And, I believe it still colours my impression of the place. My best example of this are shown in the pictures on the right. 
They are from a place we recently saw - I'm a sucker for the rapier in the first picture; and note the title of one of the books in the second picture. (You can click on it, to enlarge it.) "Happiness" - coincidence? I think not.
