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You've heard the saying "You never have a second chance to make a great first impression" right? If you are selling your home or will be shortly, you need to take that little saying to heart. I'm going to share with you my top staging mistakes to avoid and hope that you'll apply what you've read today and be on your way to a successful sale.
Staging Mistake #1: BAD MLS Photos
Did you know that over 85% of buyers are looking on the Internet first to find a house to buy? First Impressions start here folks! How do your photos look? Many times I am amazed when working with sellers that currently have their house on the market that they have not even bothered to take a look at their pictures online. I think it didn't even occur to them that this is a critical marketing tool that pulls buyers in. GREAT PHOTOS are a must! Professional Photography makes all the difference in capturing buyers' attention and getting them in the door. Great photos capture ALL of the room, have good color and clarity, and show interesting angles of each room. I see bad photos all the time. Blurry. Dark. Boring. And the worst is when you can only see a small portion of the room. I don't know about you but I could care less what the sellers BED looks like...what about the room? Potential buyers want to see everything in the room in one shot. Do make sure you have at least 15 pictures advertising your house on the Internet/MLS. Buyer's really want to see as much of the house as possible.
Note: Remember unless you are willing to hire a professional photographer your realtor will snap your photos with their digital camera. Realtors are NOT professional photographers. Their equipment will not include thousand dollar extra wide angle lenses. HOWEVER, your realtor can take multiple photos, create video tours, and post these to their personal website and the MLS. Do not accept less from your realtor. Also, ask that seasonal photos be updated as time elapses. With homes taking longer to sell in our current market, a photo can become outdated. This is especially noticable when taken in the early year where the trees are without foliage, and later in the Spring when the leaves have come on the trees and landscaping is in bloom.
NO HOME SHOULD BE WITHOUT A VIRTUAL TOUR!
Staging Mistake #2: Disappointing Curb Appeal
Ever get fixed up on a blind date? Remember the anxiousness you felt as you anticipated meeting this person for the first time? If your date went anything like mine, I was REALLY disappointed with my first impression of him and wasn't even sure I wanted to proceed with the date. When selling your home, don't disappoint your buyer! When they pull up to the front of your house, they carry with them their hopes and dreams that this home could be the one! Shouldn't you do whatever you can to impress those buyers so they will want to come in for a closer look? It's amazing how a green, freshly cut lawn, new mulch, shiny new fixtures, and a fresh paint job on the front door can sing "Welcome Home" to your potential buyers. Doing these basic items make all the difference! Do not forget a new welcome mat and doorbell too! Believe it or not, these are the 2 items that get overlooked all the time.
Staging Mistake #3: A Dirty, Cluttered House
Have you heard this one before? "The way you live in your house and the way you sell your house are two completely different things." Sellers can throw up their hands and say, "But I have to still live here!" Remember...your house is not YOUR home anymore. When you put it up for sale, it became a PRODUCT. In order to sell a product, it has to be packaged beautifully! Your buyers expect to see an immaculate house with no visible signs of dirt, dust, and hair. It's no different when you go on vacation and you've decided to stay at a very nice hotel. You expect that when you walk into your room the bed will be made to perfection, everything sparkling clean, and even a little something that says "Welcome", right? What if you walked into the bathroom and you spotted hair in the sink ! What if you couldn't tell if the towels were used or not? If that were me, I'd be calling the front desk and demanding a new room! Your buyers are really no different. Dazzle them with a sparkling clean and clutter free house to buy! Clear away all your clutter so that the selling features in each room are highlighted and your house becomes the STAR, not the people that currently live there.
Staging Mistake #4: Making Your Buyers Feel Like A Guest
Ever walk into someone else's home and as you look around at their family photos and decor, it is apparent that this is "their" home. Their personality is in every room and even if you squeezed your eyes shut and tried really hard to imagine living there, you just couldn't do it. Trying to imagine your stuff over top of all of their stuff is just impossible to do. This is how potential buyers feel when they walk into a home that is full of family photos and taste specfic decor. Those buyers immediately feel like a GUEST in your house and this is one mistake you don't want to make! That is why it is so important to pack away your family photos and neutralize each room to appeal to a broad range of buyers. That also includes your collections, religious items, personal awards and trophies, your family calendar and those fifty million magnets, invitations and "TO DO" lists from the refrigerator. Don't forget your taste specfic decor as well. You may LOVE your kitchen bright yellow because it goes so well with your sunflower collection but its got to be neutralized so buyers can SEE your kitchen with its 42" cabinets and corian countertops. They need to be able to visualize themselves cooking and entertaining in there! See what I mean?
Staging Mistake #5: Decor That Fails To Connect With Your Buyers
I see this one a lot. A homeowner has lived in their home for the past 15 years and the last time it was decorated was when they first moved in 1994. Lots of oak furniture and dried flower arrangements. Dated decor, empty rooms and random furniture pieces scattered throughout can make any house, no matter how nice the selling features, feel TIRED, DATED and OLD. Think about it this way. You know how it feels when you get your hair done? Not just a trim but when you go all out and get a new hair color and a trendy haircut? When your hair designer is done, YOU look and feel like a million bucks, right? You look YOUNGER and FRESH and everyone you see that day smiles and their eyes light up as they take in the NEW YOU!
You know, your house is really no different. It is amazing what a few key decorative items can do for a room too. You want your buyers to have that same reaction...their eyes lighting up as they view the room becoming more impressed as they tour your house.
One of the biggest misconceptions about staging your house is that you need tons of new furniture and decorative items to make your house look like a model home. You can relax now when I tell you that is not true.
If you are living in your home while it is for sale, working with what you have plus maybe a few new items with a minimum investment is all you need. Consider working with a professional Stager. They are experts at working with what you have using their creativity to re-purpose it and sometimes blending it with a few newer items. This gives older furniture and decor a fresh new look and feel. I am always amazed at how a few key accessories can make all the difference in highlighting a selling feature and breathing new life into a room! Slipcovers, new pillows that pop color, updated lamps, a rug or some inexpensive window panels might be all that is needed to turn unimpressive decor into a fabulous new room that your buyers will love and connect to!
Of course, I will say that if your house is vacant or you have empty rooms because you never got around to buying that dining or living room set, you will want to consider options like renting furniture. Most professional Stagers carry beautiful furnishings you can rent and will work with your budget.
Stage For A Successful Sale
Selling your home and getting it ready can be a pretty overwhelming task that is stressful to say the least. Did you know that working with a professional Home Stager can take that stress away and let you focus on the other important things about your move like finding YOUR dream home? They can create a staging plan for you that is unique to your property. You can have complete confidence in knowing that you will not be making any major staging mistakes with a Stager on your team while you sell your home!
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