They may love you, but they’re all liars. Your spouse, your mother, your best friend from college… Liars.
Sure, they have a good reason to lie, but they’re still lying. After all, they know you worked HARD and spent a ton of money staging your listing.
The last thing they want to do is crush your spirits by telling you just how hideous it looks…
You know who’s not lying? Your lead scrolling through Zillow in bed with a cup of tea.
“Ugh! What on earth was that Realtor THINKING?”
Don’t believe the liars. Instead, read our list of 12 deal-killing home staging mistakes even experienced Realtors make.
1. Not Taking Pictures of the Listing Pre-Staging
A blank canvas is essential for virtual staging
After the frenzy and stress of hiring a stager, coordinating with your owner, and lugging plants, pillows, and art, all over the house, it can be easy to forget why you’re doing this.
For most listings, you’re staging for the photos you’re going to post on Zillow.
However, once you stage, it becomes very difficult and expensive to correct or restage a room virtually. For example, let’s say you staged a room as a home office, and a buyer kept wondering what it would look like as a bedroom.
In order to stay flexible and become a hero to buyer’s agents, always have your photographer take pictures of the listing empty before you stage. If you don’t, your virtual stager will charge you an arm and a leg to digitally remove the furniture.
This way you can virtually stage the same room in multiple different styles, or for different uses. You could even try A/B testing the images on Facebook ads to see which one more buyers click on…
Here’s an example of how an empty room can be staged to look radically different from our friends over at Spotless Agency:
If they had to remove the furniture before staging, virtual staging would be far more expensive.
2.Outdated Lighting Fixtures
Sconces are particularly egregious offenders Image via: remodelaholic
If there is one non-structural decor piece you spend money on this year, light fixtures should be it. After all, since light fixtures are so prominent in most spaces, a bad one can destroy the look of even the most well thought out room.
During the day, they hang almost at eye level, and at night, they illuminate the entire room. For many rooms, like dining rooms and kitchens, they can become a focal point. Pendants, sconces, and chandeliers are particularly egregious offenders.
Luckily, most ugly light fixtures can be swapped out in a few minutes. All it takes is a ladder, removing a few screws, and twisting some wires if you need them to be functional.
They’re also pretty affordable. If you’re serious about marketing your listings, buying a few high quality (used is fine) lighting fixtures to fit different themes can have a great ROI.
One modern pendant, one glass chandelier, and a farmhouse/industrial wireframe should work great for pretty much any decor.
Pro tip: search on craigslist or make friends with a local contractor. Light fixtures are rarely damaged, but many people sell them for a song when they change decor.
How perfect is this light fixture for the space?
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3. Not Using Accent Walls
Just think how much nicer this space would look with an accent wall!
Considering how easy and affordable accent walls can be, it’s surprising how many stagers and Realtors shy away from them. A well thought out accent wall can add some depth and drama to even the most boring room.
If you want to try your hand at accent walls, think contrast. Dark greys, bright, energizing colors like Pantone’s Color of the Year Ultraviolet, or even removable wallpaper or graphics can go a long way to adding personality to your listing.
Need some accent wall inspiration? Check out the top ideas on Pinterest here.
Accent walls are an affordable way to add drama to any space
4. Outdated Window Treatments
Just… WOW. Image via: renovetec
After paint and lighting fixtures, nothing can kill a room’s vibe faster than ugly, outdated window treatments. While those vertical blinds may have cost your homeowner a pretty penny back in the 90’s, today they just look sad and dated.
The good news is that like lighting fixtures, good looking window treatments are affordable, and you only need a few styles on hand to match any decor. In fact, a set of sheer white curtains, and a set of heavy dark, velour panels should match pretty much anything.
Patterns should probably be avoided though. There is no faster way to pick out a cheap window treatment than from a poorly designed pattern.
Pro tip: Forget West Elm or Pottery Barn. You can get almost identical looking drapes and curtain panels on Amazon for a fraction of the price. If you line the back with velcro, you can use one 108 inch panel to fit any size window.
Gauzy sheer curtains, teak shutters, or heavy velour drapes? ANYTHING beats vertical blinds!
5. Not Using Virtual Staging When Your Budget Runs Out
Since not every listing is going to merit spending a fortune on home staging, most agents pick and choose which rooms to stage, and well, which rooms are going to look sad and empty. Garages, offices, patios, basements, and yards are the usual sad victims of a depleted staging budget.
If you want ALL your pictures to look great online, virtually staging spaces your budget doesn’t reach is essential.
Startup BoxBrownie.com let’s you order staging by room, and at only $32 per room witha 48 hour turnaround, there’s not excuse to leave any rooms empty and dull.
6. Using Too Many Bold or Statement Pillows
Yikes… Image via geekologie
Like the gallery wall, having an an assortment of boldly colored or patterned pillows is very on trend. There’s only one problem… Well, okay, three problems.
- Nice pillows are $50 each and up.
- If they’re too bold they will become a focal point
- They’re very personal. Not everyone will respond to your taste
While you may be tempted to splash out on a dozen high end pillows for your home staging, this could be a mistake. After all, nice pillows are very expensive, and bold pillows might not work well with other bold pillows.
Since the idea here is to buy versatile decor, I would avoid boldly colored or patterned pillows. Instead, stick to complementary patterns and colors, or at most, buy a few bold pillows.
Pro tip: Love mid century modern but can’t justify West Elm or CB2? Target’s Project 62 has passable mid century looking pillows for less than $20.
If you’re looking for more home staging tips on a budget, check out this handy guide over on the Homelight Blog.
7. Empty Bed Frames or Cheap Linens
Ugly paint, ugly frame, ugly blinds, AND ugly linens… blah.
Even in some seven figure plus listings here in Manhattan, the word “bedroom” is often literal. It’s a room that can fit a bed and that’s about it.
Heck, even in a palatial 1,000 square foot master suite, a king sized bed will still take up space and there is no way to NOT have it as the focal point of the room.
That means cheap linens, pillows, or even worse, empty bed frames are a mortal sin against the gods of good taste.
Pro tip: Air mattresses are incredibly inexpensive these days so there is simply no excuse for an empty bed frame. While quality linens can be expensive, they might be a worthwhile investment.
8. Not knowing Your Audience
Is this the buyer your home staging attracts? Image via Bored Panda
If you want to write a blockbuster movie, a grammy winning album, or killer marketing campaign, there is one rule above all others that determines success:
Know Your Audience!
This rule applies to staging your listings as well. As a rule, you should be staging with your audience in mind. Think about what kind of leads might be attracted to the home, the area, or the price point you’re working with.
For example, if your listing is in a conservative community with a ton of senior citizens, a more traditional staging will get a much better response than a slick, modern one.
Young hip area with lots of college students and young professionals? Minimal graphic art and mid century furniture is a must.
Matching CB2 Go-cart desks and minimal art… I love it, but will your buyers?
If you’re not sure about your audience, do some research on your farm area. Who lives there? What do they value?
9. “Gendered” Bedrooms or Playrooms
If you decide to stage smaller bedrooms as children’s rooms, you need to be careful about “gendering’ the rooms. Remember, the idea here is to create rooms that allow your buyers to dream about living in the home.
A lead with three young boys might have a hard time dreaming about putting them in rooms with pink walls and pom poms.
Instead, try and create inclusive children’s bedrooms that reflect the style of the rest of the home. If you’re staging a modern home, a minimal rocking horse, some stuffed animals and a bunkbed will work.
Image via Architectural Digest
10. Not Having a Theme for Each Room
What’s going on in here? Living room? Play room? Or…giant ottoman room?!
Be careful about staging “multi purpose” rooms. While you do want to be able to show buyers how versatile the space is, sticking to one theme will work much better.
After all, a home office with workout equipment and a hobby space doesn’t help someone who just wants an office imagine themselves in the space. Likewise if they may want to use that space as a gym or children’s bedroom.
If you truly want to help your buyers imagine themselves in the space, then you can stage rooms for one purpose, then have them virtually staged for another.
This way you can show a fully realized image of the room serving a single purpose.
Hipster home office!
11. Using Fake Plants
Okay, fake plants aren’t the end of the world, but whenever possible try to use live plants in your home staging.
Believe it or not, you’ll actually save some money in the process. Fake plants that look even halfway realistic are surprisingly expensive.
By growing live plants you get the added benefit of having lush, beautiful plants in your home or office when they’re not being used for staging.
A win/win!
12. Cheesy “Wall Art”
Image via giphy
I like to call this one the Holiday Inn deal killer. You know those bland, hideous fake paintings that are nailed to the wall of that cheap hotel room you rented back in college? Everyone else has the same visceral reaction to them that you do. Yuck.
Instead, scour ebay, garage sales, Etsy, or Amazon for a nice set of prints or paintings that can fit multiple styles.
Remember to make sure to match whatever you buy to your other accessories as well. Check out Pinterest or Houzz for inspiration!
A handful of nice prints will improve any staged listing
Need some more home staging mistakes to avoid? Check out this great write up over on the Virtuance Blog.
Over to You
Know some common home staging mistakes that you see Realtors making? Let us know in the comments.
“deal-killing home staging mistakes even experienced Realtors make.” “Realtors make.”
Therein lies the problem. The biggest mistake, the one to eliminate making most, if not all mistakes, is the Realtor doing the staging. The agents job is to market and sell the home. Agents don’t paint the houses, mow the lawns or do the appraisals. They have their go-to professionals they rely upon. They have a team to support their efforts, lend credibility and ensure mistakes are not made.
Working with a professional stager is one of the wisest investments a Realtor can encourage the seller to make. Looking at the higher sale prices of professionally staged listings and the amount spent on professional staging, in the end it doesn’t cost a dime. It is free money.
Hey Charity,
I hear you… The problem is that many agents don’t have the budget for professional home staging, or have a small budget that they need to use DIY to supplement.
Emile, in my opinion the agent should only pay for the staging consultation. At that point, it is up to the homeowner to decide if the investment is worth it to them. The purpose of staging is to sell a property for the most amount of dollars in the least amount of time possible. Staging can increase profits beyond the cost of investment that the staging would cost.
Hey Ana,
I think this makes sense and most agents aren’t going out of pocket for staging.
I agree with Emile, not every agent has the budget for staging. I think everyone would love to have all their listings staged but if they pay for a professional photographer then there might not be enough in the kitty for a professional stager.
It also can be difficult to tell your new client to remove most of their personal belongings and remove some furniture that they use and have had in their home for a long time. Doing a few basic decluttering steps in the beginning will set the tone for more decluttering if needed. Each client is different!
Yup. Staging can get pricey very quickly and is virtually unheard of in some areas with lower home prices.