Risqué art can be dangerous for deal making, brokers say

 When it comes to selling your home, brokers tend to agree that artistic inclinations can sometimes get in the way, especially if they are of the risqué variety.

“No nudes is good nudes,” Lyn Sims, a Realtor at ReMax in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago, told the Wall Street Journal, echoing a chorus of brokers the Journal interviewed around the country.

A 2011 Duke University study involving 457 participants found that removing attention-grabbing art was one of the most beneficial actions a seller could take to alter a buyer’s perception of a property. The study revealed that buyers often remember the art rather than the house, meaning that a negative reaction to the art could scuttle a deal.

However, there are exceptions to the rule. Edgy art has been used to sell luxury condos in New York City. For instance, at Chelsea’s Walker Tower, artist Alyssa Monks of the New York Academy of Art gave a lecture last November in an available condo with several nude paintings featured. Two of the pieces sold that night, and the building went on to sell both the apartment where the event took place, a four-bedroom for $12.25 million, and a three-bedroom for $8.88 million. [WSJ] – Christopher Cameron