Trying to sell a home can be stressful. Here are 5 common, but avoidable, mistakes people make with home presentation:
- Odour
- Furniture Clutter
- Unsightly Exterior
- Over Staging
- Removing Too Much
Smell is one of the very first impressions someone will have when entering your home. Pet odours, smoke, and other unpleasant smells will instantly make your home seem unwelcoming and dirty. When a person spends a lot of time around unpleasant smells, they begin to become immune to them. Try having a non-smoking friend without pets walk through your home and be honest about what they smell. You’ll probably be surprised!
Carpet is notorious for holding bad smells. If possible, replace any old carpeting. If that isn’t an option, professional cleaning can make a big difference and improve the smell of your home. Walls can also hold foul odours so be sure to wipe them down from top to bottom as well.
Too much stuff, especially large items like furniture, make areas seem much smaller than they are. The more space available and the easier it is to walk through the home, the more appealing it will be. If there are items in the home you don’t want to get rid of but take up too much space, consider putting them in storage while you’re presenting your home to potential buyers.
While keeping the inside of your home presentable is important, the exterior of the home is also important. Keep the lawn looking tidy, get rid of any dead plants, and make sure not to leave piles of trash or items you’re getting rid of laying around.
Making your home look like the picture you saw in a magazine may seem like a good idea, but making it look unrealistically perfect may raise suspicion. Having a major focal point such as a large dining table with a full set of dishes meticulously set out may be viewed as a potential way to distract from other flaws in the room. The home should be what people remember, not what they saw in it. People need to see potential, not possessions that won’t be there.
It’s important to declutter and make a home look welcoming, but you don’t want it to look cold and unwelcoming. Show the functionality of the room so the buyer can imagine their own life taking place there without things like your glass bottle collection detracting from it. Remove heavy window coverings, but make sure something is there so the house doesn’t feel overly exposed. Bamboo blinds and mini blinds are two simple and budget friendly options.
