Animals (Pets) and Showings Don’t Mix!

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Barking dogs are definitely NOT a seller’s best friend – neither are hissing cats, noisy birds, or – yikes – snakes and lizards. At best, they are a distraction to buyers; at worst a deterrent to buyers even making it through a house tour. As the mother of high school and college sons, I’m used to all kinds of both furry and scaly creatures sharing our house, but as a home buyer and stager, I know the smells, fur balls, housebreaking accidents, and other downsides of owning pets can scare off prospective buyers in a matter of seconds.  A friend of mine found dog droppings walking through a house with her agent, ugh.  (BTW, Nature’s Miracle is a great product for getting rid of “accidents” and their odors on floors and carpeting.)

If at all possible, take your dog out of the house during showings. Take your dog for a walk, or a drive.  I did this with my dog when we sold our previous house – and it sold in two weeks for full price. (I also made sure it was vacuumed and cleaned every day; as much work as it was, it paid off.) If there is no one home during the day to remove the dog for showings, put your dog in doggy-day-care as an easier, albeit more expensive, alternative. The expense is likely to pay off in a quicker sale.

When all else fails, put your dog in a penned-in, blocked-off area of the house, like a laundry room, basement, or outdoor dog run if weather permits. Or ask a friend to “board” your dog if you expect lots of showings and can’t be home to manage your pet.

As for cats, most of them hate cars and they’re harder to corral anyway. In fact, they tend to run and hide, which is great for when prospective buyers visit, but their litter boxes are another story. They are dead give-aways that trigger visions of allergies, urine stains, and lingering odors. So hide the litter box completely from view if at all possible. Some suggestions: tuck it in a corner of the basement, underneath a shelf with a privacy screen in front of it,  in a corner behind a hot-water heater, even under a high-rise bed temporarily. And keep them scrupulously clean! Even better, there are very attractive resin wicker boxes and pieces of furniture that look like cabinets, end tables, nightstands, etc. designed specifically to disguise litter boxes. Check out http://www.catsplay.com/kitty_condos.php3 as one place to find some great litter box “furniture.”

Reptiles and frogs are another story – I recommend “loaning” them out to a friend or relative (good luck!) or even locating a reptile “rescue” center. Nothing scares off buyers like a snake under glass – I was once unlucky enough to encounter a dozen snake cages in the basement of a house I was touring. Gave me nightmares about “lost” and “forgotten” snakes being left behind when the owners moved out.

Noisy birds – especially large ones like parrots – look beautiful, but they leave a lot of droppings and can make you jump when they squawk, talk, or even a chirp. The size of the cages also interferes with the aesthetics and spacious feeling of any house. The very first house I staged belonged to people who served as a foster-home to rescued parrots, with two huge cages in the kitchen. Not exactly appetizing or peaceful. Every time a female guest walked by, one of the parrots made cat-calls just like a construction worker. Funny at parties, BUT.

One last problem: I haven’t run into a nasty dog yet, but sellers should be made aware that there could be liability issues from aggressive animals that bite prospective buyers or agents.

Stagers do NOT cover up defects!

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According to Barb Schwarz, founder of stagedhomes.com, an on-line article recently appeared stating misconceptions about what stagers do and don’t do. The article stated that stagers purposefully cover up problems in homes for sale. According to Schwarz, “the article further described how agents specifically should caution prospective buyers when they see a Staged home, and that ‘82% of buyers are likely to be distracted from important issues when they go through a staged home . . . 51% of respondents noted that staged homes often cover up real defects including structural damage.'” ASPs (Accredited Staging Professionals) do NOT cover up defects in properties, and hopefully other stagers who want to stay in business do not to this either.  It goes against our code of ethics. 

Rather, our job is to highlight the positive features of a property through furniture placement, window coverings (or lack of), bringing in up-to-date accessories, and adding artwork or area rugs to “warm up” a space and create focal points. Yes, we also aim to draw a buyer’s attention away from things like a less-than-desirable view, awkward layouts, small rooms, and old appliances or fixtures, if the owner doesn’t want to spend money on updating the latter. A very big part of our job when we visit clients is to point out everything that needs repair, replacing, painting, and modernizing. It is, of course, up to the client to decide whether they want to spend the money and/or time on that, but I strongly encourage them to. 

Fortunately, I have been quite successful in convincing my clients to make needed repairs — I find clients who want me to do stagings are motivated sellers who want to sell quickly and get the most money they can for their property, so they are anxious to eliminate problems and potential buyer objections before their homes go on the market. 

However, if I had a home where the floorboards were water stained (or urine stained from pets), I would never cover up that floor with a rug; instead, I would tell the sellers they must get the floor sanded down and restained, or replaced as necessary, because if the house got inspected after a contract was signed — or worse, got to closing and the buyers discovered stained floorboards after a rug was removed — both I and the sellers would be accused of hiding a defect. I would never risk my reputation for a temporary “fix” that is really a cover-up. I would, in fact, make sure the agent and the sellers knew of the problem by putting it in writing to both and keeping a copy in my own files.

My job is to help buyers view a house in its best possible light so that drawbacks that can’t be changed (view, noise, layouts, room sizes) are less obvious, but those that CAN be fixed and that might affect the value of a property are eliminated or made known to agents, sellers, and buyers. Just as with agents, stagers know that misleading buyers is a dangerous business that can get any of us in big trouble and hurt our reputations and referrals. It’s not worth it, and it’s just not the right thing to do. 

Different areas of a house need to shine in the summer!

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Now that warm weather is here, it’s time to emphasize all the outdoor recreation and relaxation areas of any home on the market . . . whether it’s a 7 bedroom mansion on several acres with a large in-ground pool and tennis courts, or a 1-bedroom apartment with a balcony or patio. Curb appeal becomes even more important — now’s the time to add large urns of flowering plants to front steps, porches, and all patios. Spruce up the landscaping with dark brown or black mulch (the “in” colors), flowering annuals along walkways or around lampposts and curbside mailboxes, and prune the bushes everywhere, but especially in the front of the house and alongside the foundation. If there are any “empty pockets” of missing plants, be sure to fill them in with ones that match the neighboring plants. Look to create solid “masses” of no more than two colors with annuals in the foreground of foundation plantings.
Make sure you replace any worn, broken patio furniture with new furniture that fits the style of your house — but make sure it’s on-trend in the newest colors. For instance, a Victorian house looks best with wicker furniture, but the dark resin “wicker-look” is the most popular right now. A cabin or barn-type house looks great decked out with Adirondack chairs in painted colors that match the trim on the house. Sling-back chairs with bronze or dark frames or tightly-woven rattan outdoor furniture look great with traditional colonials, ranches, or contemporary homes.
If your home has a patio with nothing on it, stage it so buyers know what it can be used for and can see how much the space adds to the entertainment value of your home. You could add not only a table, chairs, and umbrella, but a firepit, couch and coffeetable, and potted trees or plants in the patio corners. For a small balcony or patio, stage the space with a bistro table and chairs so buyers can picture themselves having a drink or coffee in this outdoor “room.”
Be sure all your outdoor lights work for buyers who might drive by at night or even visit at night — you want your home to look brightly-lit to show warmth and its features. This would be a good time to invest in some uplights at the base of focal-point trees in both the front yard and back. And if you have a worn or broken fence, get it stained, painted, and fixed! Make sure the grass is cut, and if you have a pool, keep it dive-in ready so it looks like it’s not a maintenance chore!

Beware! The Top 20 Tacky Staging Techniques

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Couldn’t agree more! Wish I’d thought of writing this list myself. One thing more I would add: don’t ever tie up towels with ribbons, no matter whether they’re brand-new or not — it just looks fake and “stage-y”! Great post, Angela!

Via Angela Voss (Designology Home Staging and Publishing):

Home staging should show off the great features of your listing and diminish the negative ones, not create a phony atmosphere. It’s all about marketing that feeling of the good life and what is possible for the room without going overboard.

A home should never look like it’s been staged.

20 Tacky Techniques:

  1. Napkins stuffed in wine glasses (Creates a phony atmosphere.)
  2. Place settings on a table or bar (Nothing says, “This home has been staged”, more than dishes, stemware, silverware, and napkins.)
  3. Old bath towels hanging on a bar with ribbon (Old towels will not give a buyer the spa feeling, even with a ribbon.)
  4. Single piece of artwork on a wall with nothing else in the room (Buyers will only see the art and not the room, especially online.)
  5. Furniture store tags on items that are for sale (Staging should be about the house and not what furniture is being sold by a store.)
  6. Old, dirty rugs (Rugs should only be used to define space or add color. Buyers need to see the floors and what they are buying.)
  7. Dusty, plastic trees with only a few branches (I don’t mind trees, but they have to look nice.)
  8. Cuttings from bushes and branches brought inside (Will wilt rapidly, and it will take the eyes away from the room.)
  9. Accessories that have nothing to do with the style of the home (Example: You can’t take a country look and put it in a contemporary house.)
  10. A card table with a sheet covering it in a dining room (A cheap look and does not represent the room dimensions.)
  11. Plants or greenery over window treatments (Shows off bad decorating, and again takes the buyer away from the overall room.)
  12. Plastic patio furniture inside that is covered or not (Just don’t!)
  13. Cheesy old lamps (Get the granny lamps out.)
  14. Cheap plastic flowers (What I like to call “forever flowers” usually found at dollar stores.)
  15. Sofa covered with a sheet as a slipcover (Planning on painting anytime soon?)
  16. Blow-up beds (From personal experience: blow up beds will only stay fully inflated for a short time no matter how expensive they are.)
  17. Plastic fruit (Fruit can be done right, but the majority of the time it looks tacky, creating a phony atmosphere.)
  18. Breakfast tray on a bed with tumbled wine glasses (Creates a phony atmosphere.)
  19. Only two chairs in a living room (This will not give a buyer a sense of the space.)
  20. Wine bottle sitting on the edge of a garden tub (Creates a phony atmosphere.)

Tacky staging can spell disaster for your listing. Why? Because we remember tacky! What you put in the home is the perception of what the value of the home is worth. Your poorly staged listing becomes, “That house with the saggy, deflated blow up bed,” or “That place with the cheesy lamp like the one in my parents’ house.”

If the accessories and furniture looks like you got it out of grandma’s attic or down the street at a yard sale, the buyer could expect a yard sale price tag on the house. It is better to leave a house empty then to use bad décor! Staging should enhance the architecture of the home, not show off poor decorating ideas. Bad staging draws attention to itself – and distracts your buyer from your listing!

Please understand the quality of a good home stager.  Know what services you are having your seller buy and who you are recommending. They will be worth their weight in gold.

Helping you get your listing SOLD,
Angela Voss
Designology Home Staging