Don’t Make These Common Home Staging Mistakes

You shouldn’t underestimate the serious impact staging can have on the sale of your home.

Done right, it can help your residence sell faster and for more money. On the other hand, some staging gaffes can have a significant negative consequence on your property’s marketability.

Here are five of the biggest home staging mistakes to avoid:

• Staging blunder #1: Going too bold or trendy. Before you put your house on the market, view every surface with a critical eye, especially the walls and floors. You don’t want potential buyers thinking about how much time and money they’ll need to spend painting over electric blue walls or replacing that well-loved orange shag carpeting. Opting for pleasing palettes in largely muted or neutral tones allows buyers to envision the residence with their décor in place.
  

  Don’t Make These Common Home Staging Mistakes

  Expert tip: Going overboard with neutrals can make your home seem bland and dreary. Add some pleasing contrast with elements like accent pillows, throws or wall art to make the room pop.

• Staging blunder #2: Keeping things too personal. Photos, collections and knick-knacks can have a lot of personal meaning, but the goal of staging is to make your home a blank canvas for potential buyers. That means all of those things that make the house feel like it’s ‘yours’ should be removed. Photographs, in particular, can be distracting and make buyers feel that they’re intruding on someone else’s space.
  Expert tip: Some personal items can actually be polarizing. Political items, guns, and taxidermy, for example, can evoke strong emotional responses. It’s best to pack them up while your home is on the market.
• Staging blunder #3: Jam-packing the closets and cabinets. Storage is a top priority for most potential buyers, so highlighting your home’s various stowage areas to their best advantage is a must. Even if your home has plenty of storage, overstuffed closets will make it feel limited.
  Expert tip: Buyers will be opening your cupboards, drawers and closets to assess storage capabilities. Thoroughly clean and organize these important aspects of your home as you would any other room. Remove bulky winter clothes from closets, organize the pantry, and store excess blankets and sheets to make the linen cupboard appear roomy.
• Staging blunder #4: Neglecting the lighting. Lighting is a key element in making your home look its most appealing. Open the blinds and curtains to allow in the maximum amount of daylight, which will make the space bright, inviting and welcoming. And don’t forget to test all window treatments and light fixtures to ensure that they’re in proper working order.
  Expert tip: Place some mirrors on bare walls. They add a nice decorative touch and help reflect the light around the room.
• Staging blunder #5: Choosing furniture of the wrong scale. Furnishings should never overtake a room, but it’s a common mistake for novice stagers to incorporate pieces that aren’t the right proportions for the space. Placing an oversized table with thick, clunky legs in a small dining room, for example, only serves to highlight the room’s modest dimensions. To present the space in its best light, keep its layout and square footage in mind.
  Expert tip: Aim to keep furnishings in a 2/3 proportion to the room. For example, the sofa should take up 2/3 of the length of the nearest wall, and the coffee table should then be 2/3 the length of the couch.

Home staging is intended to create a neutral canvas that will appeal to the majority of buyers.

It’s all about de-personalizing the space and creating a model home appearance that everyone can appreciate. For more information about how to stage your home like a pro, please contact our helpful, knowledgable team.

About Certified Title Corporation: Since 1994, attorney-owned Certified Title Corporation has been furnishing residential and commercial real estate stakeholders across the nation with robust title insurance, settlement, and escrow services. Renowned for their industry-leading reliability and exemplary level of service and quality, the Maryland-based company helps clients from all walks of life achieve their asset goals. To learn more, call (888)486-5511 or visit https://www.certifiedtitlecorp.com/.