As a flipper and real estate investor with years of experience dealing with thousands of properties, I recommend professional staging that more than pays back by helping a house sell more quickly. Every day on the market costs me in expenses – utilities, insurance, interest to lenders, etc. – and delays starting the next profit-maker.

But – beware do-it-yourself staging! As with everything else about your flip project, DIY’ers get it wrong with alarming frequency. Even more alarming is that they often don’t realize it until the first realtors and homebuyers have already seen it and the damage to a quick sale is done.

DIY staging mistakes with possible consequences for a quick sale –

• Not listening to outside opinions. You may definitely have the most exquisite taste in town – but that’s actually a problem if the buyers who will be looking in this neighborhood find it incomprehensible. What the viewer thinks is what matters most.

• The furniture and/or décor look used and/or outdated. This includes bedding! Furnishings grab the viewer’s perception, and that perception spreads to the house.

• The furnishings do not fit the space. Failure to effectively fill and use a large space makes the room layout look awkward. Conversely, over-large furnishings shrink a small space (including rugs, lamps, side furniture, etc.).

• Bright colors; murals; themes; anything that isn’t neutral in both color and style takes attention away from the house. Any homebuyer who spends time admiring an accent piece is probably not planning how much they want to offer.

A home-shopping friend once looked at a house for sale by owners who thought it would be great to show off the family-fun potential of the basement – so they preserved their “man-cave” movie-and-games room. Complete with aging black paint, cushy but worn-out couches, huge battered coffee table, a litter of game controls and even masses of jungle plants. Although my friend was looking for a roomy basement for family activity, this mess easily convinced her that this was not it! The paint and clutter made it look as if it would be tough to do over for what she wanted. Had they left it empty and painted eggshell white it might have looked like the perfect space opportunity.

Staging isn’t just about carrying in some furniture. It’s about the right home furnishings for this house and for the market. It’s about the emotion the ambience taps in the viewer (not the stager).

Visit some of the most sophisticated staging examples and also some of the worst, looking from the eyes of the buyer for that neighborhood. Gain a new appreciation for how powerful staging can be – and how that power can be a good thing, or a bad thing!

What staging item have you seen in a house for sale that turned you off?

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