Top 10 Home-Staging Don'ts

Mother-and-daughter real estate pros, Donna and Shannon Freeman, explain why some home sellers miss the mark when staging their homes.

Real estate experts Donna and Shannon Freeman of Designed to Sell and Secrets That Sell.

Please Don't:

Rationalize that a higher asking price means you will have more wiggle room. You could wind up sitting idle on the market, with a house full of wiggle room.
Respond to lowball offers with a counter, but with an invitation to re-submit.
Refer to a leaky foundation as a central humidifier.
Make your house smell like a cherry orchard or a department-store perfume counter.
Air your dirty laundry. This includes leaving bills and private papers out, and, of course, the airing of your dirty laundry.
Take your prospects on A Complete History of The Kopecki Repairs & Renovations Tour.
"Clean up" by stuffing all of the closets.
Leave unfinished "DIY" jobs for the buyers' honey-do list.
Defer yard work. Your house only gets one chance to make a first impression. Overgrown shrubs and broken gutters are the real estate equivalent of dandruff.
Think licks from Rex The Bulldog will help generate more offers.