The Uninvited Stager Series

It's time for more advice on what not to do when you are selling your home.

Don't Make Your Home Un-Bearable:  Sorry for the bad pun, but when you are marketing your home, you want online buyers to be intrigued enough to make an appointment to come see it.  You don't want them laughing at their laptops! This particular home had several rooms featuring bears!  So, put the stuffed animals away in boxes - and make your rooms look livable and lovable.

Ditch the Dorm Room Look:  This is in the same home as above.  The dog poster on the wall (held up with scotch tape), grandmas's chair in the corner, the particle board, cluttered desk and the cheap valance for the window don't do anything to entice a potential buyer. A nice, framed piece of artwork, simple sheer panels on the window, a neatened desk and a nicer chair - would do wonders for this room - easily and inexpensively.  PS - shut off the flash when taking photos.

 

 Open up Shower Curtains in Bathrooms:  This is a very nice bath...but it would have looked better had the owner or realtor ironed the shower curtain.  Pulling the curtain back to the right side with a tassel or a hook and decorative roping would have been even nicer. It would help to make the room look larger.

 Don't Emphasize Hard-to-Decorate Windows:  In this lovely bathroom, it's very obvious that the owners didn't know what to do with this window.  If the owners don't know what to do...the buyers won't know either. This window should have been decorated with a simple blind in the same shade as the wall - so that it would blend in.

Don't Over-Emphasize an Empty Room:  The guitar in the corner just points to the fact that this room really has no function and no furniture.  The owners could have easily put in a air mattress with bedding, a pillow and some artwork - and it would look more welcoming.  Empty rooms connote some possible buyer distress, which could possibly mean a lower offer.

Don't Over-Emphasize an Almost Empty Room with no Function:  We all have those rooms or areas of our homes that seem to collect the stuff we don't know what to do with.  But, when you are selling your home you need to address this and eliminate it.  You are selling a dream, an ideal way of life in your home.  Buyers don't want to see another home like theirs...they are searching for home buying Nirvana - even if it's a lie. Give each room a function - make it a home office or a guest room.

 

High ceilings are wonderful, if you know how to decorate them:  This room is lovely, but the dark color on the wall only serves to make the room seem a bit squat.  It's too much contrast. I would have lightened the wall color - perhaps using Shaker Beige (HC-45) from Benjamin Moore and then possibly adding some white to the mix and painting the ceiling a lighter version of the color. It would make the room seem larger and less angular (with those short side walls).

 Avoid Too Much Personalization, Themes and Collections:  I just had to include this picture from my realtor friend and fellow blogger, Leif Swanson of Ugly House Photos. He always has some great images of what not to do when selling your home - culled from homes across the country that are for sale. The photo below is something that a homeowner's son may be in love with...but to a buyer it just represents clutter and they cannot see "the room."  Leif calls this "Clutter Blindness" on the part of the seller.  So, get your personalized collections and memorabilia off your walls and shelves and show the buyer the room...not the stuff.

 

The Spring selling season is in full swing right now...buyers are out there looking for great homes to buy.  Don't blow your chances of selling quickly by being guilty of some of the above faux pas.  Clean up, clear out...and get on with your life and sell your home now.

Call me at 631 793-1315 or email me at Linda.Leyble@gmail.com if you would like some help in getting your home ready and beautiful so that it can be sold quickly.

What Not to do When Selling Your Home

The "Uninvited Stager" Saturday Series

This morning I happened upon a home for sale where with every picture a potential buyer would be increasingly turned off - and would not have even gone through the entire set.  I could have swooped in and changed the entire look of the home in 4 hours.  But, sadly, I was not consulted!

Same old story - remove the clutter! This is actually a nice kitchen but it's so uninviting. I always tell realtors that if they want to sell a homeseller on the concept of staging and how it improves the saleability and the look of the home - I tell them to 1) Take a picture of the kitchen "as is" and then 2) bring a box (or 2 or 3!) and, with the owners permission, remove the magnets and the clutter. 3) Take a picture of the kitchen uncluttered.  Show the seller both pics on your laptop and ask them which one looks better.  It really works - try it.

To add insult to injury, there is another picture of the kitchen!  More clutter. You can also see the realtor's camera case on the table.  Oh boy.

Nothing appealing here.  Love the mini moose heads! And that light fixture!  Looks like it is coming to attack the photographer!

In case you didn't see the mini moose heads and the light fixture...here's another view! Oh - and take your shoes off.  We may have clutter, but we keep our floors clean - except for maybe the dog hair.

We're so busy praying for a buyer that we didn't have enough time to make the bed.  Oh - and there's no room for nightstands...sorry.



We're really praying - two crosses. What day is today?  Oh maybe the day to put the old sofa on craigslist to make the Master bedroom seem a lot roomier.

No - we did't make any of beds...why should we? We're too busy watching TV on our "too big for the room" plasma television.

In case you didn't get the whole view of the room - here it is.  What day is today?  The day to get a new window treatment.

Yes - we have 3 bedrooms in this house. But we don't even bother to center the bed or put bedding on.  And - we are still praying (but shorter prayers) for a buyer!

No - the person doesn't come with the house.

Neither does the realtor! But for a few extra bucks we'll throw in the hair curler, toiletries and the lovely hair band where the towel should be! Oh - the vanity cabinets don't close all the way - sorry.

We don't have enough room for a home gym, but you can do pull-ups on this shelf!

So...this is obviously extreme, but with some minor changes and decluttering this house would have shown so much better. You can tell that the house is nice - but a potential buyer would have given up after the first few photos.  Don't let that happen to your home or listing.  Hire a competant home stager - or put in a day or two of work and declutter, make the beds, put the toiletries away, close the toilet lids and consider hiring a photographer to take professional photos.

If you would like some help selling your home, please give me a call at 631 793-1315.  If you are in the NYC or Long Island area and you would like to have me do a Free Staging Presentation at your real estate office, just email me at Linda.Leyble@gmail.com or call!

From a Pile of Coal Comes a Diamond

Just a quick post today.  Sometimes when I'm getting reading in the morning I have thoughts about improving my business or other people's businesses (including the business of selling a home, for instance).  I tell homeowners and realtors about the staging process and why it works...but some people listen and some don't.  Happy are those who listen to me because their homes move!

So I try to come up with ways to explain why you need your home to look great if you want to sell it. I try to come up with analogies and stories so that people get the concept. Pictures help a great deal...so here's my picture analogy of why you should make your home look the best it can and how a qualified home stager can help your home look its best.

Lumps of coal Source

Can turn into...

It takes work, but your house can be a Diamond! Which of these two pictures represents your house? Make sure it's in "Diamond" condition - then your days on market will be short!

Call me if you need any help getting your home ready for the Spring selling season! 631 793-1315

Image credit for diamond: Source

A Teaching Tool For Why Home Staging Works

I was fooling around with Photoshop today and I came across an idea for a quick teaching tool for why staging works. I took a badly staged room and then I posterized it in Photoshop.

The room is not appealing at all in the photo and it looks pretty bad as a poster!  It looks like a messy hovel. Why would you want to purchase a home like that...& why would you want to buy a poster that looks like that!

Then I took a room that is styled and staged beautifully - and posterized that.



I could see this as artwork in my home. It's something I would purchase.  I love the symmetry of the room and it just looks like I could relax and unwind in this place.

Sometimes, as homeowners, we don't see our homes as they really are because we are so used to seeing our rooms day after day.  Making a poster out of a room in your home may help you to see it in a different light...how buyers see your home!