Online, in another state, far, far away, I saw this listing for a house for sale. It is the perfect example of how not to sell your house!  If you don’t want to sell fast or for more, follow this advice!

1. Make sure every room is so cluttered with objects and décor that buyers are totally distracted with your stuff and can’t see past it to the house!

2. Make sure it does not appeal to the greatest number of buyers by making the colors and décor so personal that it only appeals to people with taste just like you.

3. Overwhelm buyers with colors and patterns.

4. Put too much furniture in every room so the house feels small, regardless of how big it is.

5, Add as many personal photos as possible so buyers are distracted by who lives in the house now rather than envisioning it as their house.

6.  Keep the decor dark and heavy, rather than light and airy, clean and modern.

7.  Increase your price to 60 times more than the estimated value of similar homes.

While “Zestimates” are often wrong and can be off quite a bit, they are usually not off by 29 million dollars!

Zestimate:  $613,051

Price / Tax History

For more information on why your house may not sell, see my recent article “Why Your House Won’t Sell”.

To have a quick and profitable sale, make sure your house is easy for buyers to fall in love with and visualize themselves living there. To make that happen, make sure it is clean, move in ready, well maintained, light, airy, modern, decluttered, inviting and warm yet not too personal, priced right, and marketed well. Don’t forget curb appeal. Grab buyer’s attention with great photos and a reasonable price, get them to the front door with great curb appeal, and get them to fall in love with it once they are inside.

A professional home stager can help you make it all happen and increase your sales price with professional staging.

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What is Home Staging? Wondering if there is a magic wand that you could wave at your house to make it sell fast and for more? Well, there is! It is called home staging. Find out “What is home staging”  in this video on FAQ’s for Home Sellers on Home Staging.

What is home staging?

Home Staging is a marketing tool that uses decorating to show off a home’s best features while downplaying its flaws. Done right, staging creates an emotional connection between home and buyer, leading to a faster sale at maximum value.

My report, FAQ’s for Home Sellers on Home Staging has tons of useful information on every question you may have had on home staging. Whether it is, what is home staging, how much does it cost, what is the process, who pays, why it works or for how much more your house may sell for if you try staging, it’s in here!

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One of my favorite home staging jobs was when I staged another home stagers house. What???  Yes, even home stagers can benefit from home staging when selling their house! Why? Two reasons:

1. One of the most valuable aspects of home staging is getting that objective view of your for-sale home that a home stager can give you. When you live in a house every day, it is easy to no longer see that pile of stuff in the corner, notice the smell of cat litter or notice that squeaky door. Even home stagers become blind to these things in our own homes.

A home stager can see your house for the first time as the buyer will see it. They will notice all those things you no longer see and can give you great advice on changing those things, not just to look nicer, but to also appeal to your target market.

Target market? Whether you realize it or not, your house, based on its location, price, neighborhood, local schools, and other data will appeal to some buyers more than others.

A lower priced home near good schools may appeal more to first time home buyers with children. A professional home stager will know your market conditions, who your target market is, and will stage the house to appeal to those buyers.

2. A home stager is also a member of your home selling team, along with your Realtor and photographer. As part of your team, your home stager is there to support you, offer you advice, serve as a coach and provide support. Selling your home can be very stressful and having a good support team can make all the difference in making the process as smooth and stress free as possible.

In this home staging project, I helped another home stager by providing that objective view, by staging her home and serving as part of her support team. I also developed the social media advertising for her home sale, and provided support when times were stressful! Check out the before and afters in this video.

So how did it go? Here is what the seller had to say about the process.

Mary Ann deserves a “stellar” rating for her home staging services, talent, experience and knowledge as a Professional Home Stager. A home stager myself, my husband & I enlisted Mary Ann to take on the oversight of staging our home when a new job and relocation required us to sell our $575,000+ home in a lagging real estate market, & a very busy time in our lives!

Her perspective helped us make decisions that were hard to make but that were in the best interest of our home sale. When the home staging was competed and a professional real estate photographer captured the essence of our property for an excellent Internet presence, Mary Ann also created a fantastic Face Book Page & a video to help boost our online marketing and show the property in a way that real estate listings could not. We had immediate requests for home showings, and fantastic feedback from home buyers and real estate folks during the entire listing period.

In addition to Mary Ann’s staging talent & knowledge, she provided us with constant professionalism and personal service by staying in regular communication with us during our home listing; by being on time and meeting deadlines; by reducing our stress because of ongoing support and her experience; by completing all work, then following up with our additional requests; by reducing our staging costs by using furniture & decor we already had; by updating, & increasing our Face Book Page presence & audience; by ensuring that we were satisfied with her staging, costs & marketing services; and by being part of the team that successfully got our home sold in a bleak real estate slump .

Because our home was staged to show all of it’s features and to attract home buyers, our home sale was solid, and profitable. Had we not staged, or had we poorly staged our property that was in competition with other homes, it is safe to say we would have been forced to drop our sales price, significantly, and received less profit for a future home purchase.

Mary Ann was not only a home staging contractor, she was, for us, a coach, a mentor and a great support in a very stressful and high anxiety time in life! Home staging is worth every dollar, but hiring Mary Ann Benoit, of Northern Light Home Staging & Design, was more than worth every dollar and lead us to success, and a new future. Stacy Goade- President of Alaska Premier Home Staging

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There are many reasons why your house won’t sell. Common reasons include condition, buyer appeal, price, marketing, market conditions and you!

To sell a home fast and for the price you want, it has to appeal to buyers!  Buyers want a move in ready property that is clean, modern, well maintained and that they make a connection with and can visualize themselves living in. It has to be at a price they can afford, and they have to know it is for sale!

Condition-Does the house appeal to buyers?

Is it move-in ready?

• Does the home need repairs?
• Does your house smell due to old carpeting or pet odors?
• Are your appliances ancient and barely working?
• Is your lighting out of the 70’s?
• Is your flooring cracked and chipped?

Don’t try to hide issues from buyers like covering odors with freshly baked cookies or other silly tricks. If your house won’t sell, fix the problems and be honest and disclose any issues with the home.

Is it clean?

• No-one wants to buy your dirt. Get it professionally cleaned.

Is it professionally staged?

• Do your paint colors appeal only to a limited number of people? A professional stager can make recommendations on paint colors that can actually increase your selling price.
• Is your space so cluttered it is hard for buyers to see the space? If so, your house won’t sell. A stager can help you determine what is important to keep and what should go. Homeowners that do their own staging often take out too much, making the house feel cold and uninviting.
• Are Buyers making an emotional connection and able to visualize living there? Home stagers are professionals at seeing your house objectively; highlighting the homes best features to make that connection with your target buyer.
• Is your house vacant? Vacant houses do not connect with buyers, appear smaller than they are and buyers have a hard time visualizing how their stuff will fit in the space. A stager can take an empty house and make it look like a home.
• Are you living in the house while selling? A stager can work with what you already have, making sure the house does not retain enough personal items to distract buyers
• Do you have good curb appeal?
• Was the house staged by a trained and experienced professional stager? Staging done by home owners, realtors or friends often fails to connect with buyers. Non-professionals often stage with too little or too much furniture which is distracting to buyers, or does not appeal to the right target market. Silly staging tricks are often used which makes it look staged and un-natural or it is decorated to their personal taste rather than to appeal to the greatest number of buyers. A professional stager may be a greater investment up front but will more than pay for itself in your final sales price. Professional staging always costs less than your first price reduction.

Price- Is it too high?

• Is your price too high? Listen to your realtor.
• Is your house in the upper price range for homes? More expensive houses usually take longer to sell because the pool of buyers that can afford it is smaller.
• Have buyers viewed the property, made positive comments, but no offers?  Your price may be too high.
• Have you made the mistake of pricing it based on what you need to get from it rather than market value?
• Are you worried about pricing it too low? If the price is too low, and the house looks great, buyers will bid up the price to market value or beyond with multiple offers.

Marketing

• Do you have professional photos? Great photos of a properly staged home online are the first step to attracting buyers to visit your for-sale property.
• Has Your Realtor done sufficient and effective marketing? Not all Realtors are created equally. If your Realtor can not find the time or money to properly market your home, find another Realtor.
• If you are FSBO, have you done sufficient and effective marketing?
• Has it been on the market too long? If you have made some of the mistakes listed above and the house has been on the market a while, buyers will wonder what is wrong with the house and will no longer consider looking at it. It may be worth taking it off the market, fixing the problems, taking professional photos and re-listing so it appears as a new listing.

Market Conditions

• Is it a Buyer’s Market?- Regardless if it is a buyer’s market, if your house provides what buyers want, you can sell it fast and for a good price. If your house is outshining the competition and has a reasonable price, buyers who usually take more time to make a decision in a buyer’s market will realize they need to get an offer in fast.
• Is there an economic recession?-Sometimes economic conditions can make buyers reluctant to spend money on a home. In this situation, the only options are to make sure your property outshines the competition, wait it out, lower your price or offer other incentives to buyers.

You

If your house won’t sell you also need to consider your role in the problem.

• Have you been willing and available to show your home when buyers have been interested in seeing it?
• Have you kept your for sale home clean, de-cluttered and looking at its best for showings?
• Are you hanging around and making buyers uncomfortable during showings?
• Have you been honest and disclosed any issues with the home?

Here is an example of a home staging project I did that had many of the problems listed above, had been on the market for many months and was not selling or generating interest.

1. The house had some repairs and updates that were needed.
2. The house was not professionally staged.
3. The price was too high compared to similar houses in the same location.
4. The market conditions were poor, and it was a buyer’s market
5. The house was in a higher price range.
6. There was an economic recession in the area.

After the house was taken off the market, repaired, properly staged, new photos taken and the price was lowered to meet prices more in line with the location, the house sold within a few months.

Need Help Getting Your House Ready for Market?

Why not get things right before you list and save yourself time, money and stress. Get a home staging consultation to learn everything you need to know and the you can stage it yourself or have it professionally staged.

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Interested in becoming a home stager? I recommend the Staging Diva Home Staging Training program!

Ever wondered what life as a home stager is like?

How I Became a Home Stager

Many years ago I got a degree in Interior Design, and although I used it on some jobs and always loved it, my life took a different path and I became a wildlife biologist. Three years ago, I decided I wanted to start some type of creative business. Working for the government as a scientist was not exactly feeding my creative spirit!  One day when taking one of those fun quizzes on Facebook, called “What is your true profession”, the answer I received was “designer”.  I started playing the “what if” game in my head, wondering what my life would have been like if I had stuck with Interior Design as a career. And then I thought, why not now?  I decided it would be the focus of my new business, Northern Lights Home Staging and Design.

While researching how to start a design business, I came across information on home staging. I really knew nothing about it and the whole concept of decorating a house to sell sounded fascinating. I thought it would be a great aspect of a design business.

Home Staging Training

After researching various home staging courses, I decided to take Debra Gould’s Staging Diva course because it seemed to be the most focused on how to successfully run a home staging business, rather than just teaching how to decorate. And I am so glad I did!

The course was fantastic and I continue to stay connected with Debra and other stagers from the class through coaching and conference calls. Part of the journey I love is the wonderful generosity, community and friendships I developed with this group of amazing creative people. Some have taken me under their wing and served as mentors when I was just getting started, and others I continue to collaborate with, developing products, articles and brainstorming ideas to make our businesses better.

Life as a Home Stager

After starting Northern Lights Home Staging and Design, I found my life as a home stager is fun and rewarding, and it feeds my creative soul with the great benefit of helping others. I love walking through a house during a home staging consultation, and on the fly determining all the things that can transform the house, make it look beautiful, connect emotionally with buyers, and help my clients. It is like an improvisational home staging dance. I also love staging vacant homes, where I have a blank slate and can do whatever I want! I love working with occupied homes, where I can see the story of the home owner, and bring out the beauty that is there by bringing a fresh eye, highlighting the important things the house wants to show. When you listen, the house speaks to you and tells you what makes it special. I love it when I am done with the staging and the home seller says “Wow, I wish we had been living like this all along…maybe we shouldn’t sell”!

Unexpected Benefits of Becoming a Home Stager

And there were some totally unexpected benefits as well. I have another business, a bed and breakfast which I started in 2002.  Once I started learning how home staging is an amazing a marketing tool that connects with buyers, I wondered if I could apply the same concepts to my bed and breakfast. I did some experimenting and found that it at least doubled my bookings and income and helped me attract my ideal customers. It transformed my business. And, doing this added a specialty niche for my staging business to help others with vacation rental properties with home staging.

From my home staging course, I learned or was inspired to learn all kinds of new things including designing my own word press websites, creating video for advertising, how to write a blog and create a newsletter, how to publish articles for magazines and do radio interviews. I also was inspired to continue my education and become a color expert and strategist, and add color consulting to my list of services. The home staging training opened so many doors to learning that helped me in numerous aspects of my life. And I think it is just the beginning!

It all gives me joy. And like any business, while there are times when business can be slow or clients can be difficult, it is all worth it and I am so happy this is what I am doing. If you are someone that has wondered about being a home stager, I say, GO FOR IT!

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How much does it cost is usually the first question I get from home sellers! A better question might be can home staging help me sell faster and for more! Think of home staging as an investment, rather than a cost.

Home Staging is an Investment. Which House Would You Rather Buy?

That investment will depend on the size of your home, if it is vacant or occupied, if the stager will do everything or just a consultation, followed by you, the seller, doing the bulk of the work. It also depends on whether suitable furniture and accessories are present in the home or if items need to be rented.

Stagers charge a fee for a consultation and give an estimate (based on an hourly fee, or a flat fee) if additional time is needed. A monthly rental fee may apply for furniture and/or accessories.

On average, stagers charge $400-$600 for that initial “working” consultation and about $125/hour for their time after that. Furniture and accessory rental costs vary based on what is needed to properly showcase your home.

Just like a home seller shouldn’t pick a real estate agent based on the highest quoted sale price for your home, a stager should not be picked based on the lowest bid. In both cases, the agent and the stager may be quoting that price just to get the job. You get what you pay for. Quality counts.

Staging will always cost less than your first price reduction. An increased sales price of your home, faster closing, and reduced holding costs, will more than cover the staging investment and all with a whole lot less stress!

Who Pays for Home Staging?

Some popular options include:

• the home seller pays all
• the real estate agent pays for a consultation
• the real estate agent reimburses the home seller at closing for an agreed amount (such as for the home staging consultation).
• the real estate agent pays all or part of the staging

More and more Realtors are covering the cost of a consultation as part of their marketing plan, leaving any further investment up to the home seller. If you like to DIY, a home staging consultation may be all you need to properly prepare your home for sale.  Learn more about the costs of home staging and how it works in my blog article, Home staging- How it Works and What it Costs.

https://northernlightsstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Home_Staging_How_it_Works.mp4

Let’s Get Your Home Staged Today

Let’s get your home staged today. Start with a home staging consultation, either in person or online. From there, you can take the information and stage it yourself, or we can work together or I can do it all for you. Whether you will be living in the home while it is for sale or it will be a vacant property that needs everything, I can help.

Some other services you may find helpful are a color consultation if your staging consultation highlights the need for re-painting the interior or exterior. Virtual staging is an option if in person staging will not work for your vacant property. And vacation rental staging can help you increase your income, bookings and attract your ideal customer.

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The right paint colors can help you sell for more. The wrong colors can decrease your sales price.  Get this report, normally valued at $5 for free when you sign up to receive monthly color, design and staging tips.

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How Much Does it Cost?

Usually the first question I get when a home owner or realtor calls about home staging is “How much does it cost?”

To get the best possible results from home staging, it is worth spending the money to hire a professional home stager with experience and great reviews. See my interview on Helpful Tips for Finding a Great Home Stager to learn what to look for.

Benefits of Home Staging

The benefits include getting the highest possible price for your home in the price range of similar houses, and selling fast so you save money by reducing owner expenses while on the market and losses from price reductions. Home staging always costs less than your first price reduction.

The Cost of Taking Shortcuts

Taking shortcuts such as hiring untrained stagers or realtors to stage your home because it is cheaper, listing first and staging later if it does not sell, using “Lite” or “Vignette” staging of minimal rooms or areas, or not staging at all will cost you more money in a lower final sales price or losses from price reductions as your home is on the market longer.

A better question might be, “How much does it cost not to professionally stage my home?” The higher initial investment will pay off and put more money in your pocket in the end.

What if You Can’t Invest in Home Staging?

Sometimes, however, a home seller is unable to make the full investment in home staging. What is the cheapest way to get results that can pay off in a higher sales price when the budget is tight? Here is my advice if you are going to be living in the home while it is on the market.

Get a home staging consultation with a professional stager, follow their advice, do the staging yourself, and have them do a final check-up before taking photos.

Every home, no matter how big or small, regardless of the price range or condition can benefit from a professional consultation.

What is involved in a professional home staging consultation?

The home stager will come to your house and walk through the interior and exterior. They will give you expert objective advice on:

• • How buyers will see your home and what changes you can make to get the highest final sales price. It is impossible for home sellers to see their own home objectively as a buyer seeing it for the first time will see it.
  • The most cost effective ways to market your property to your target buyer.
  • What things to repair, paint, update, remove, add, keep and re-arrange to highlight the best features of the home and downplay the flaws.
  • Paint and décor colors that appeal to buyers.
  • Working with the décor you have to highlight the homes features and will give you recommendations for purchases if needed for bedding, art, accessories, furniture rentals, etc.
  •  Prioritizing the most important things to do if time or budget constraints exist.
  • Improving your curb appeal.
  • Trusted resources such as contractors, painters, and cleaners etc. to use.
  • How to live in your staged home and keep things looking great while it is on the market.

Most consultations last about 2 hours and cost an average of $300 providing a huge amount of value in just a few hours. Your home stager can come back for a check-up after you have done the work to do final adjustments before photos for an hourly fee. The check-up can add great value to make sure your furniture is properly arranged to highlight space, your bookshelves and accessories are styled to look great, your bedding is arranged perfectly, art is hung correctly and all the little things that will make the photos look wonderful and have buyers loving your house are done.

What if your house is Vacant?

A consultation can still provide great value in prioritizing the things to do to get the most bang for your buck. And it will be important….since there will be no furniture etc. to look at, buyers will be focusing on the flaws which will be more obvious. You are better off investing in a consultation or full staging than trying to do ”vignette” or “Lite staging”. These silly staging tricks where a couple rooms have minimal furniture or have small areas staged in an otherwise empty house look weird and distracting. Better to not waste money on that and leave it empty. During the home staging consultation, the stager can tell you what the most important things are you can do to get the best return on your investment with the money you have available to spend.

A great home stager will make all the difference in a successful home sale for you. Pick their brains! They want to help you!

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Will younger buyers love your for-sale home?

The majority of staging projects that I do are for older sellers and the target market is younger buyers. The sellers are retiring and moving to a new location. Many have lived in their home for many years, which were often built in the 1970’s-1980’s. Based on the price they are selling these older homes for and location near schools, the target buyer is often a young family buying their first or second house. The styles that appeal to these two groups are usually quite different!

To appeal to a younger buyers, home staging can really help give a fresh modern feel that younger buyers are looking for. For more examples of how home staging can help attract younger buyers, see my article “Home Staging Helps Seniors Move on to Their Next Adventure”.

Here is an example of a  home staging project that shows how home staging can appeal to younger buyers.

This house had been on the market for about a month with little interest. The home seller decided it should be staged, although the realtor had not suggested it. Once staged, they got new professional photos and the interest and showings increased by at least three times the amount they had before. Everyone loved the way the house looked! They had an offer within 2 months and were able to move on quickly to their new location. This house would have sold more quickly had they staged it initially before listing and would have saved them money on photos.

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Color is a very personal thing.

We all have our favorite colors and ones we really don’t like. The colors we surround ourselves with, whether in our homes or the clothes we wear affect our mood and be stimulating, relaxing, inspiring or agitating. Because color can have a strong emotional effect on people, it is important to consider how it will affect buyers when you put your home on the market.

While you can indulge your love of certain colors when living in the home, those colors may turn off buyers or may not work with their furnishings and accessories. If so, they may not make an emotional connection with your house, which is what inspires an offer!

For those few buyers that can visualize what the home might look like with different colors, they will consider it an added expense and a hassle to have to paint a color to their liking. Buyers like properties that are move -ready!

Stagers often recommend more neutral colors to appeal to more buyers. But, there is still a balancing act, to make sure the for sale property is not boring! You want buyers to remember your property and feel a connection!

Here is an example of a recent staging project where colors were very important. The property owner had rented it out for years, and renters had all indulged their own love of color along the way. Painting a more neutral palette while adding warmth and color with furniture and accessories brought in an offer the first week on the market.

The power of color in home staging can make the difference between a quick sale for more and a property that sits on the market without offers.

To learn more, get my free report on my “Top Paint Colors for a Speedy and Profitable Home Sale”. Sign up here to get a copy.

Get an Online Color or Home Staging Consultation Today

Try my online color or home staging consultation today. They are $500 each online but you can do both together for $750 and save $250.  Call today for a quote for in person consultations.

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Click on the picture to find out more about the best training class on color available, the Four Pillars of Color!.

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Getting professional photos to highlight your for-sale home is critical to helping your listing outshine the competition online and getting buyers to visit your property!

Professional photos also  help make your vacation rental stand out online and attract your ideal customer.

Even with professional photos, it is important to make sure what is in the photo looks great and will capture buyer  or renter interest! After all, a high quality photo of an ugly room will emphasize the negative aspects rather than the positive.  Here is a checklist to make sure your rooms and the photos look fabulous.

Prepare for Your Photo Shoot – 2 weeks or more in advance

• Consult with a professional home stager.  Staged homes or rental properties will look significantly better in photos than un-staged homes. Stagers are experts at decorating your home to create an atmosphere that appeals to buyers or renters so they make an emotional connection!
• Stagers will help you highlight the positive and downplay the negative, give you an objective plan of things you can do to get top dollar and sell quickly with suggestions that will give you the greatest return for your investment.
• Stagers can re-arrange furniture and decor to highlight focal points and enhance space, recommend paint colors that appeal to buyers or renters and look good in your photos.
• They recommend repairs or remodeling, arrange to rent and place furniture, art and accessories if needed.
• They research your target market in advance, and decorate to appeal to them. Most stagers will need 2 weeks in advance of photos to consult with you, devise and implement your staging plan and set up and have furniture and decor delivered if it is needed, although they can usually work with what you already have.

Complete painting, repairs and maintenance

• Make your house spotless! While this is particularly important before showing your house to buyers, a clean house will make your photos look much better!
• Stick with the plan. If your home has been staged, do not add, take away, or re-arrange items that have been placed before the photos

On the Day of Your Photo Shoot

If you have used a professional stager, they may have done most of this for you. If you are living in the house while listing, some of these things will still be up to you to do on the day of the photo shoot.

In All Rooms

• Turn on all the lights, including accent lights such as under kitchen cabinets
• Open all curtains unless specified otherwise by your stager to downplay a poor view
• Make sure shades, if partially closed are all at the same level and are even at the bottom with cords neatly hanging and as invisible as possible
• Consolidate and hide electrical cords as much as possible
• Remove personal photos
• Make sure price and other tags are not visible on pillows, towels, curtains or other items
• Remove pets and all evidence of their bowls, food, beds etc.
• Turn off TVs and ceiling fans

Kitchen

• Remove all items from the countertops except a few appliances and decorative items
• Remove dish towels
• Sinks should be clean and empty. Remove sponges and soaps
• Remove small area rugs in front of sink or doors. They are distracting in photos.
• Remove all magnets, papers etc. from the refrigerator
• Close all cabinet, pantry or closet doors

Living /Family Rooms

• Neatly arrange pillows or throws on couches
• Clear coffee and end tables of items except for a few decorative items
• Hide remotes

Dining Room

• Clear table except for a centerpiece

Bedrooms

• Make the beds. Ensure the bottom of the bed spread is even along the front and sides. Crooked bedspreads look distracting in photos
• Put away clothes
• Close closet doors
• Clean and organize closets for interior photos
• Clear bedside tables of all items except for lamps and small decorative items

Office

• Neatly organize papers and files
• Hide personal information, certificates or bills

Bathrooms

• Towels are clean and neatly folded or hung. On towel racks, make sure the bottoms are straight and even.
• Put down the lid on the toilet seat!
• Remove personal items such as soaps, shampoos, toothbrushes etc. from view
• Remove bath mats (they are distracting in the photos).
• Shower curtains are clean, pressed, and open to show the shower

Entry

• Put away shoes, coats, keys, backpacks etc. so they not visible
• Remove all rugs except entry rug just inside the door

Exterior

• Park cars elsewhere so house is clearly visible
• Put away all tools, toys
• Make sure yard looks cleaned and maintained
• Remove trash cans from view

Resources

Tips for Finding a Great Real Estate Photographer

Tips for Finding a Great Home Stager

Ready to Prepare for a Great Photo Shoot?

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