What Not to do When You are Selling Your Home

"Uninvited Stager" Saturday

Another Saturday - another blogpost showing how some sellers and their realtors are allowing their homes to be marketed on the Internet. A few of these listings stated that the realtors were "premiere" realtors.  Really? That adjective doesn't hold here.

1) If you are going to highlight something on your listing, such as a closet - make it neat please!  This closet makes the buyer think there's not enough room for everything. And the buyers don't have to see all your personal notes and notices.  Take those down!

2) Purple?  Please paint this a neutral or calming and lighter tone!  And while you're at it - paint the brick fireplace in a cream or light off white. I gather that this is a bedroom - but where the bed is doesn't make any sense.  It should be on the other side of the room - directly across from the fireplace or angled in a corner.  This arrangement makes a buyer think there may only be room for their bed on the side where it is now.  A beautiful painting or a mirror over the hearth would help make up for no mantle.  Some large candles and some fireplace tools by the fireplace would make this room much more attractive.

3) How about a picture of the entire door?

4) You really can't tell what this room looks like can you??

5) The next few pictures - I think the seller must be in the rug business.  This is a beautiful room - and the wide planked floors are to die for.  The rug ruins this photo and it doesn't show off how great the floors are. This space would have looked incredible if it was staged with furniture. And the little puny accessories on the mantle do nothing to help a buyer remember it.

6) The rug in the middle of the room again. You want to emphasize the floors - place the rug underneath the feet of the sofa and underneath the coffee table.  That would make the room cozier - like you'd like to sit down and have a chat.  The rooms looks colder the way it is.

7) We're still in the "rug" house, but this time the teensy rug they have here is rather silly.  They should take one of the rugs from downstairs and place it under the bed.  That would make the room homier.  The little painting that's placed too high over the mantle won't help a buyer remember it.  The sunflower picture would be better - coupled with some nice pillar candles - and that would make a nice vignette. But - at least the floors are a stand out in this room.

8) Get ride of the two toned paint job.  Buyers want to just move in...they don't want to paint. And that orange color?  It is an advancing color - which means it brings the wall forward, perception-wise.  This seller just made his kitchen smaller - and we all know that buyers want smaller kitchens, right? The yellow is an advancing color as well - so this home actually will seem smaller.  A cooler neutral color on the wall would be much smarter. (and of course - get rid of the magnets and clean up the clutter!)

9) The next few photos are in a really beautiful, upscale home.  At least the first floor is really beautiful but somehow the upstairs was just a forgotten wasteland. This office could be nice if it was straightened up and decluttered.  This just says "chaos"and not organized and efficient - that's what you want to portray when you are selling your home with an office in it.

10) This is the same home - the bathroom is just a mess.  The counters should be cleared and the rugs on the floor look like someone just took a bath in here (it also makes a buyer feel that maybe the floor is too cold with all the little scatter rugs). The wallpaper should be removed also.  Right now a potential buyer is only focusing on the negatives - the clutter, the wallpaper and the green sinks.  Neatening everything up would make those green sinks less of an issue. PS - the pink washcloths and the pink glass actually bolster the green in the sink. Pink makes a green next to it seem more green (a little color theory thrown in here!).

11) Finally - every room should have a function. This one is just a catch all.  It's housing all the furniture that the owners don't know what to do with.  Keep two or three items and put the rest in the garage or in storage.  If you don't have a bed, buy a blowup bed and put sheets, pillows and a comforter on it and make it a bedroom.  It's not expensive to do this.  Or - hire a stager to help you! Give every room a definite function.

Well, that's my advice for today.  Remember you only have a few seconds to make a great impression.  Don't waste any time marketing your home in an inferior way.  If your realtor has not suggested hiring a stager - ask them to recommend one in your area.  Or, you can call me to help you.  I can assess your photos via email and can make great suggestions on how to improve the look and saleability of your home.

Happy selling!!