Sellers stunned after N.J. house drew a crowd and sold for $242K over asking price

A couple from Nutley wanted to sell their home and retire to Florida.

They started cleaning out decades worth of stuff from the attic and the basement.

“I told them to give us the keys and we will transform the house,” said Lorraine Hurlbut of Keller Williams NJ Metro Group.

Hurlbut and the couple established a budget and she got to work bringing in painters, electricians and carpenters. They put in new steps and railings, sanded the floors. They transformed the attic, which was an unfinished storage room with a radiator and a closet, turning it into a fourth bedroom that was staged as an office. Hurlbut, who is also a decorator, staged the entire empty house.

She also cleaned up the yard by cutting down bushes and reusing a pile of old pavers outside the sheds. She painted the front door robin’s egg blue and took trimmings from skip laurel bushes to make planters for the front porch.

“The amount of effort that went into the staging; most of the time staging is kind of minimalistic,” said Geoffrey Hurlbut, Lorraine’s husband an a contractor who worked on the sprucing up of the home. “When people went through the house, they felt at home in the house because it looked like someone actually lived there.”

She initially listed it December 1 for $599,000 but increased the price to $609,000 once the transformation was complete, she said.

About 120 people looked at the house and it was under contract within a week.

“The last offer came in from a gentleman who lived in this style home in upstate New York and it reminded him of his childhood, so he had to have it,” Hurlbut said.

The home was built by William Lambert, a well-known local architect and developer who built more than 500 homes and commercial buildings throughout Nutley. He also built hundreds of more homes in other states. Lambert’s style included turrets and witch’s hat roofs.

He transformed Nutley from a rural to suburban area in the early 1900s when train service to New York City became available. His developments are in the Prospect Heights, Nutley Park and Spring Garden sections of Nutley.

The accepted offer on the home was $102,000 more than the second highest offer, Hurlbut said.

The sellers “were stunned,” Hurlbut said.

The home sold for 40% over asking price, a new record for Nutley, she said. The previous record was 27% over asking price from a sale three years ago.

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Allison Pries may be reached at [email protected].

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