1. Not repainting your interior wall colours or feature walls that YOU love

If you decide to put your house on the market, a big ticket item that buyers will notice is interior wall colours. In a recent study, photos from nearly 50 000 home sales analysed how certain room types and paint colour combinations matched with the properties’ selling prices. It found that some colours actually helped buyers make a premium of up to $5 000. Warm neutrals are stylish and clean and suggest to buyers that the previous owners had an eye for design.

2. Avoid using too many colours or patterns together in one room—especially if they’re bold or bright colours!

This can overwhelm potential buyers and make them feel uncomfortable when they visit your property. The colours that you choose should be based on how well they sell your house, not how pretty it looks. Colours have the power to completely change the feeling in a room

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3. Forgetting about exterior presentation.

When you’re presenting a home, it can be easy to forget all about the exterior like the kerb appeal and even the backyard. After all, the inside is where all the action happens. But if you want to get the best return on your investment, you need to give your home’s exterior just as much attention as its interior. Have you noticed those marketing photos like this one where the interior has been staged but the front photo of the house is lacking in the kerb appeal department? Buyers want to be reassured that what they are buying doesn’t just look good but is well maintained and is well kept.

4. A dark house can be the “kiss of death”.

Take down any dark curtains and add light fixtures to areas that are dark and dingy. To show off all your home’s best features, it needs to look light and bright. This room has a big window but only one ceiling light.

5. Too many personal items on display.

The most common mistake homeowners make when staging their homes is leaving too many personal items on display as in this photo. Presenting it to look like the best version of itself allows buyers to see themselves living in that space.

6. Using on trend interior design styles.

Presenting your home with what’s trending can risk alienating your buyer. Staging your home is not the same as interior decorating. Interior decorating is designing spaces to suit a homeowner’s particular style like Coastal or Hampton’s. Whereas home staging is all about presenting a home with just enough personality between what’s on trend and the traditional. This staging uses colour in cushions, vases and lighting to inject personality. The large rug defines the space. The design is neutral.

7. Poor furniture placement.

How a room will photograph and how people will move through a space during a showing or open home needs to be considered. Also, where furniture is positioned in front of large windows and doors needs to be thought through carefully. This placement suited the home owner but required a change for selling.

Your house has given you a lot of great memories so its worth ensuring that it meets the requirements for potential buyers going through their own process of elimination. I’m sure you’ve been there already, going online and clicking through properties, passing judgement on which places are worth walking through the front door. Working on some of these issues is a great place to start.

Do you want to avoid these and other mistakes?