It’s not hard to understand the benefits of staging your home. As a staged home will often sell faster than one left either empty or filled with the belongings of the seller, as it can be difficult for a potential homebuyer to imagine themselves in an empty or filled home. However, knowing a staged home is different than knowing how to stage a home.

So, as you ready your home to go on the market, consider these do’s and don’t of home staging. By applying this advice, you should be able to sell your home faster and for the price it deserves to be sold at.

Neat And Clean Homes Are Faster To Sell

Most people selling their homes would never leave the place dirty or disorganized. But there is a difference between a clean home where you can receive visitors and a neat, clean home you are hoping to sell.

What to avoid while making your home neat and clean:

• Don’t leave personal keepsakes, personal/family photos, and various knick-knacks up. This leaves a cluttered look to the home and can overly personalize rooms, making it hard for buyers to imagine their belongings in the house.
  DO: Pull out a few of your moving boxes and begin packing up personal effects. Store these items in an off-site storage unit.

• Don’t hide belongings in the closets or garage. Homebuyers will be looking to your storage examples. If they see that your storage spaces are cramped and disorderly, they might also think they’ll have the same problems in that space.
  DO: Declutter the closet. Serious sellers would greatly benefit from removing ⅓ to ½ the items in their closets and garage. You can start the packing early and store unnecessary belongings in an off-site storage unit.

• Don’t forget to give your home a once-over cleaning. Maintaining a high level of cleanliness is important while selling your home.
  DO: Make sure you clean your home before every showing. Hire a team of professionals to save on time.

• Don’t allow your pet to roam the home.  Selling a home with a pet in residence can be tough, especially if the pet is generally allowed to roam around the house.
  DO: Either keep your pet confined during a home showing or even better, remove your pet from the house before homebuyers come to view it.

• Don’t leave the smell of your home up to chance.
  DO: Choose a simple air freshener to sweeten the smell of your home and try to keep your home well-aired.

Buyers Appreciate A Simple Color Palette

Sticking to a simple color palette doesn’t mean you have to paint all the walls white and use only neutral-toned furnishings. By keeping your color palette simple with coordinating colors will present an appealing appearance to homebuyers.

What color choices to avoid when staging your home:

• Don’t go bold with your color choices. What may be a very attractive choice for one person may seriously deter a potential homebuyer.
  DO: Skip jewel tones and bright neons while sticking to gender-neutral pastels.  

• Don’t mismatch your furniture to your decor color. A deep green couch would look odd in a pastel yellow room.
  DO: Use a color generator if you need help determining complementary colors.

Polished Homes Sell Quickly

While you don’t need to literally polish your home, there are several ways you can improve your home in subtle ways which will help your home sell more quickly.

Remember not to skip over these simple polishing steps:

• Don’t leave little holes or other flaws in the walls or floors. Living in the home day-to-day can cause you to overlook picture frame holes and dark marks on the floor.
  DO: Fill any holes with plaster and finish with a paint touch up.

• Don’t forget to deep clean the kitchen and bathrooms. These two rooms receive heavy usage and will be scrutinized by homebuyers.
  DO: Ensure these areas have been wiped from top to bottom using degreaser on kitchen cabinets and soap scum and mildew remover in showers. If you think that buyers haven’t noticed the bases of your toilets, you’re most likely wrong.

• Don’t organize your furniture contrary to the room design. While a piece of furniture may be attractive, if it overwhelms the flow of the room, the room will appear smaller and less functional than it actually is in reality.  
  DO: Consider removing unnecessary furniture from the room and storing in an off-site storage space.

• Don’t neglect your curb appeal. The outside of your home is the first thing potential homebuyers will see.
  DO: Make a good impression by making small improvements such as repainting the front door, adding flower planters, and cleaning the windows.

Staging your home does not require you to make huge sacrifices. Just make sure you avoid the don’ts of home staging and employ the do’s.