1. Taking bad photos: Why waste your money on staging if your photos don’t match the real thing? Read more about Real Estate Photography Tips.
    
2. Uploading bad photos: Adding bad photos (even if it’s temporary) to your online listing is counterproductive. It’s better to have no photos – the potential buyer has already made their first impression.
    
3. Cookies & strong air fresheners: Are you trying to hide a problem? The best smell is no smell.
    
4. Getting free advice from a friend: Friends and family have their hearts in the right place, but you wouldn’t get them to repair your car if they weren’t qualified. So don’t do it with one of the biggest investments of your life. One of my client’s friends told him to paint the living room peach. Cringe!
    
5. Removing staging furniture too soon: Even though you may have offers/be conditionally sold, things don’t always work out the way you hope. It’s best to keep staging furniture rentals for the extra month, week or two, until everything is finalized.
    
6. Not checking in: If you’re not living in the property that’s being sold, it’s easy to forget about it. But sometimes things aren’t left the way they were staged to be after a showing, so it’s better to do a quick check in advance.
    

Be proactive and avoid common home staging mistakes to present your property in a way that will appeal to your ideal buyer. For more professional home staging resources and tips, follow Set Your Stage on Twitter.