8 Home Staging Mistakes to Avoid

Staging your home is a critical step when selling your home, properly staging your home can increase foot traffic of interested buyers, as well as bring in multiple offers.

It's important to know staging mistakes that can easily be avoided to ensure you get the best outcome on the sale of your home.

Not Having a Plan

You may think staging your home will be a breeze, especially if you have a good idea and attention to detail, however when it's your own home you are staging, it is recommended to call in a professional.

A professional stager will walk through each room of your home and provide you with a detailed list of items that need to be changed, updated, or repaired. They are not personally attached to the home and are experts in knowing what can make or break a sale.

Staging experts will provide detailed suggestions, help brainstorm ideas, and should be able to suggest appropriate professionals complete the recommended tasks if you choose not to do them yourself.

Jumping the Gun

Listing your home before it is move-in ready is a big mistake. Potential buyers don't want to view your home with work in progress.

Whether you are making repairs or improvements to your home, potential buyers can view this as a home that was not well cared for while you've lived in it, potentially costing you money with lower offers.

Not Taking Professional Photos

When listing your home, the photos displayed on listing websites need to "awe" potential buyers.

When homebuyers are viewing homes online, the first thing to catch their eye will likely be the photos listed. Photographs that are taken by a novice photographer could cause less foot traffic, if the photographs are not good enough potential homebuyers could keep scrolling past your listing to the next one.

Professional photographers with experience in real estate photography can capture the right angles and lighting to spotlight the wonderful aspects of your home.

Not Updating Dated Decor

Trends come and go, sometimes quicker than we'd like, making sure your home is updated with current decor can make a world of difference.

Updating home decor can give your home a fresh, new, clean feel making your home more attractive to potential buyers. Home decor could include removing wallpaper, changing out light fixtures and/or ceiling fans, updating your countertops, etc.

Regardless, of how big or small the home decor updates are, you must give your home a facelift if it is outdated.

Using Non-Neutral Colors

A common statement you will hear when getting ready to sell your home, paint your walls in neutral colors. Neutral colors may not be what you like but, it is truly one of the best staging recommendations you receive.

Painting your walls is one of the less expensive updates you can make to improve your odds of selling your home quicker. Buyers get discouraged when they encounter a home with bold colors that they are going to want to paint over, they don't want more work for themselves when they are already tasked with moving.

A fresh coat of paint will not give your home a fresh new look and neutral colors also allow potential buyers a better opportunity to visualize what their life will be like should they purchase your home.

Hanging Pictures the Wrong Height

You may be surprised how the wrong picture height can affect the look of a room, ultimately causing potential buyers to lose interest.

Most home staging professionals will encourage sellers to limit the number of personal items and decor that remains in the home but having a nice picture or two on the wall is not unfounded.

The magic number to remember when hanging art is 60, the ideal height for artwork is 60 inches from the center of the picture to the floor.

Lacking a Lived-In Feel

When selling your home you want your home to look well-polished and clean vs. cluttered and messy. However, there is a happy medium.

Staging your home, you may purchase fancy throw pillows but, you don't want them to look stiff, fluff them up, karate chop them if you need to. Place a throw blanket over the back of the couch to give it a cozy feel or hang a cute hat on a hook at the home's entry.

Furniture Placement

Common mistake home sellers make when staging their home is pushing furniture flush against the wall. Sellers tend to think that pushing furniture against the wall, it will make the room look larger, it can make a room appear smaller.

Large furniture such as a huge living room sectional is not ideal for home staging. Staging professionals will often encourage homeowners to either sell or store their large furniture and if necessary, rent something smaller and more accommodating for your room.

Homebuyers want to see a room that is welcoming and an excellent place for conversation, pulling furniture into a room will give a cozy and inviting feel.

The Breakdown

Time to break it all down. First and foremost, hire a professional to guide you in staging your home, it is well worth the money spent.

Cleaning, decluttering, and organizing your home are key when selling your home, it not only makes your home look more attractive but, it will help you in the long run when it's time to move.

Updating outdated decor and making necessary repairs prior to listing your home ensures that your home is move-in ready which is what homebuyers want but, can also reduce the risk of scrambling to make repairs as part of the sales contract.

Hiring a team of professionals to stage your home and identify impactful updates will create a move-in-ready experience that could inspire more buyers to make an offer.

Contact us at any time to get in touch with reputable and amazing home stagers in the Colorado Springs real estate area.

Start Your Selling Journey Here:

• How Much Does it Cost to Sell Your Home?
• The Dangers and Pitfalls of Discount Brokers
• 5 Ways to Sell Your House
• 3 Things to Know About Pricing Your Home
• Do You Still Need to Stage Your Home?
• 5 Staging Tips to Make a Bigger Profit
• 6 Questions to Ask Your Real Estate Agent
• What Sellers Should Know About Home Inspections
• How Much Will I Make Selling My House?
• Is a Cash Offer Always the Best?
• How to Choose Between Multiple Offers?
• 5 Things You Must Do Before Listing Your Home