5 Mistakes Home Sellers Should Avoid When Staging Their Homes
5 Mistakes Home Sellers Should Avoid When Staging Their Homes
When it comes to listing your home, a great real estate team will help guide you in the right direction. However, to truly maximize your home's showing potential, you may also want to enlist the advice of an Interior Designer or Professional Home Stager to help make the interior and exterior of your home more attractive. These professionals are skilled in not only being able to help make the right color selections for paint and accessories, but can space plan your current furniture layouts for maximum impact. You'll definitely want to put yourself in your buyer's shoes and take a look around as if you were buying the place yourself to help you spot potential problem areas. To help you further, I've compiled a list of the top 5 mistakes sellers should avoid when selling their homes.
Staging Mistake No. 1 - A dirty home- Nothing turns a buyer off more than walking into a home that is dirty. This could mean, stains on the walls, rugs, furniture, or extra garbage in your yard. Perhaps a potential buyer walks in and sees piles of junk and clutter on the floor, trash piling up, or it could be something as simple as mold in the shower or an unclean toilet. To make a great impression your home really needs to be clean. For people that might have a harder time with organizing, try hiring a cleaning service to come through and help get things moving in the right direction. It may cost a little bit of extra money, but it will help you be more prepared so your home shines.
Staging Mistake No. 2 - Poor furniture placement- In our busy day to day lives it is easy for things to quickly pile up and that can sometimes include furniture. Maybe you've inherited some antique pieces from your family or just have a hard time letting go of things. Over time we seem to accumulate more than we need. When showing your home, you'll be sure to want buyers to be able to walk through easily without furniture in their way or in the wrong place. When people walk through a space and something is out of balance or misplaced, it may make them feel uncomfortable leaving a bad impression. Too many pieces in a room may make your room feel small or closed off. It can also be distracting if your eye has too much to take in. Extra care should be taken so that rooms are set up with a comfortable seating arrangement and welcoming style.
Staging Mistake No. 3 - Unpleasant smells- Everything's been picked up, cleaned up but when the buyer walks in there's a stinky smell or odor. This is a complete a turn-off. Sometimes if you have pets, you might not notice the familiar dog smell, but a new buyer might not like it. If you have a smoker in the house, this too can leave stains and odors. Maybe it is a home gym that smells like a locker room or just a fridge that smells musty. In these areas, you'll not only want to clean but deodorize. Baking soda and air fresheners may come in handy in these cases. Contrast the horrible smells situation with a buyer that walks into a clean home and smells cookies baking. It will have the opposite effect.
Staging Mistake No. 4- Broken or Unfinished Items- The next thing to you'll want to do is check your home and make sure you don't have broken items or items that need repair. For example, you’ll be looking for things like faucets that might be leaking. The same holds true with unfinished projects. Unless your home is listed as a fixer-upper, it will show better if that back-splash project you started in the kitchen is finished all the way and not missing a few tiles. Buyers will be checking appliances, fixtures and looking for areas that may have been neglected or unfinished. By checking these things out and completing them early, you'll eliminate possibly losing a sale. Your home will be viewed as well cared for.
Staging Mistake No. 5- Poor Lighting-The final mistake sellers should avoid is poor lighting in their homes. Every room should have at least three light sources. A properly lit room will have the three different types of lighting and be well lit. Great lighting can create ambiance in your space just as poor lighting certainly kills the mood. Not only will it make it harder to see the rooms or spaces, but in general people respond to light and bright spaces in a positive way. You'll want to make sure the temperature of your lighting is correct and make sure walkways are lit up just in case your home is shown on a cloudy or darker day. Finally, don't forget about your exterior lighting. Make sure that all of these light fixtures are working.
By making sure your home doesn’t have any of these mistakes, it will help you present it in the best light possible. If you'd like more help with staging your home, I've written A Home Seller’s Guide to Staging Their Home that is filled with outlined checklists to help you with the home staging process. You can get a copy of my book here. By taking the time to be prepared, you will help present your home in the best way possible.