5 Staging Tips that DO NOT Matter For Home Sellers

Staging your home for sale is both an art and a science. There is plenty of information out there that will tell you exactly how to stage your home for an open house, but most of it is just fluff! Here are the 5 staging misconceptions the internet won’t tell you that expert realtors know too well.

#1. “Bake cookies right before your open house.”

It’s true that our sense of smell is powerful. Walking into a bad smelling home can turn buyers off instantly, but that doesn’t mean you should flood your home with just any smell. Think of it this way: Our sense of smell is very closely related to our sense of memory. For some people, the smell of freshly baked cookies may bring back fantastic memories of days past. But for others, the smell of freshly baked cookies makes them nauseous! Your house should actually smell like NOTHING when it is being shown.

Scented homes lead to one of two reactions:

• Buyers who are chemically sensitive get headaches, irritated eyes, or nausea and want to leave immediately, OR
• Buyers wonder what you are trying to cover up.

#2. “My house won’t sell unless it has plants in it.”

Live plants or flowers in a vacant house tend to become dead plants very fast. Unless you are dedicated to checking on these plants regularly, you need to skip them, because nothing stops a house from going pending like dead plants. And fake plants are just that, fake.

#3. “I can just lightly stage this room and it will work.”

Light staging or rearranging items in a room like a chair and a rug in a bedroom, does NOT help sell houses. It actually slows the process down! Random objects in a room only draw attention away from the house. Either stage the room completely or don’t stage it at all.

#4. “We should make everybody take off their shoes before they enter.”

Taking off your shoes in public is uncomfortable. So why in the world would you ask people to be uncomfortable in their new home? With any luck, the floor will be theirs soon. Worry about cleaning up after!

And finally, #5. “Staging can fix anything.”

Wouldn’t it be great if this were true? Unfortunately, it is not. Staging can liven, brighten, and beautify your space. But sometimes, things are just bad! They need to be fixed, remodeled, or overhauled prior to or instead of staging. Think of it this way: If your entire house is painted in rainbow tie-dye, no amount of staging will help you.

In the end, bad staging does nothing to help your sale and could actually hurt you in the long run! You need a competent staging professional and realtor if you want top dollar for your house.

Selling a home? Don’t go at it alone. Get in touch with one of Charlotte’s expert real estate agents here at Nestlewood Realty!