Common Mistakes People Make When Staging Their Home

Have you ever wondered how you could sell your home quicker than others? The secret lies in the fact that prospective buyers perceive homes in a certain way. If your home creates a lasting first impression with potential buyers who can then begin to envision the property as their home, you can sell your home not just quickly, but for more money as well.

Home staging can help you achieve precisely this. Using a combination of color choice, furniture, layout, lighting, etc., a professional home stager meticulously plans and arranges every aspect of your space to optimize its appeal. She/he creates a look for your home that will pique the interest of buyers and attract several high offers.

There are times when you may need to sell your property urgently and attempt to stage it on your own. This is not advisable as you may overlook certain things and commit blunders that could actually turn off potential buyers. Here is a list of five common home staging mistakes that could reduce your chances of a successful sale.

1. Using existing furniture and accessories. A homeowner who decides up front to use existing furniture and accessories assumes that by doing so, it will present the home to potential buyers in the best possible way. While this approach sometimes works, there is a good chance it will not be optimal for achieving the goal of selling a house quickly and at the best possible price. The key element to accomplishing this goal is by creating a great first impression to potential buyers.

To build this impression, an experienced home stager knows what works, what appeals and what doesn't. Such an impression requires an unbiased assessment of the current home where they see the house as it is, determines how it should be presented to potential buyers and develops a plan to accomplish the goal. Existing furniture and accessories that contribute to achieving the goal will often be a part of this plan, enhanced through carefully selected additional pieces, to provide a coordinated look and feel that is certain to give the best first impression with potential buyers.

2. Staging a home on your own. It is a common mistake made since people think it is easy, fast and saves them money. They probably do not understand the investment value of staging or realize too late that a professional stager does the best home staging.

The cost of home staging should be treated as an investment; you get an average 400% return on the staging cost because of the result: a quick sale at a significantly higher sale price.

3. Staging a home at a low rate. This is a mistake because there's a difference between bargain basement staging and professional home staging. Home staging is not all the same, and in some cases, bargain basement can be a turnoff to potential buyers.

People often do not understand the value of professional home staging, wherein you get a faster house sale at a higher sale price. Hiring a professional home stager with appropriate credentials and experience will ensure your house is decorated with staging in mind and not just filled with furniture.

4. Allowing personal taste to dictate the style of home staging. Customers are generally happy with their surroundings including the way their home is decorated. They may think that as long as their home is clean and orderly, it will appeal to potential buyers. The difficulty clients have is that they look at their home as a personal space, and that probably says a lot about themselves and their lives. Unfortunately, the way we live in our home is not the best way to market or sell our home. For a potential buyer to think seriously about purchasing, the seller needs to begin seeing the house as if they were a potential buyer. This requires the space to be appealing and adaptable to the potential buyer's taste and lifestyle. The way current owners stage their home is somewhat distracting and can often be too cluttered for the viewing experience to feel smooth and natural.

A well-staged home entices potential buyers and is best created without interference from the personal taste of its current owner. Furthermore, it will ensure that space is optimized, appropriate styles are used, and more focus is placed on the positive features of the home. This way, potential buyers are easily capable of establishing an emotional connection to the property, an essential element for a successful sale

5. Choosing not to stage a vacant home. This is a mistake because architectural features and basic décor, such as surface treatments, do little to appeal to potential buyers, and vacant space will likely fail to engage them. It has been shown that 90% of people can’t visualize a space in any other form than how it is presented to them. Therefore, an unstaged, vacant house will appear cold and empty which is an unpleasant sight for most.

Hiring a professional stager to select appropriate furnishings and accessories makes the property attractive to potential buyers. This creates a great first impression that will trigger the all-important emotional connection and make them feel like this could be their future house.

For professional home stagers in Toronto, ON, reach out to Elegant Renderings Home Staging And Design. We offer complete home staging services for all residential applications across Vaughan, Newmarket, Markham, Richmond Hill, Aurora, Toronto and the surrounding areas. Our services include vacant home staging, redesign, color consultation, showcasing, and furniture and accessories rental. We aim to implement modern home staging practices that will increase the value of your property and allow you to obtain a high selling price.

For a complete list of services, please click here. If you have any questions about home staging, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact us here.