Homes for Sale Should Look Lived In

Oddly enough, you can pay to professionally stage a home and have it look too perfect.  Potential buyers need to be able to envision things being just a tad askew in order to feel comfortable with the space.  Especially families.  Or so says this writer, who is a real estate agent.

But a couple of these homes lacked that warm, lived-in feeling. This turned off the young couple with the two small children. I saw them squirm and cross their arms. They made generic statements about how this is nice and that looks pretty, but not buying-sign comments.

If I can't tell where the Doritos go, then how can I see myself living there?

This concept definitely makes sense to me.  See the above picture if you don't get the concept right away.

Families, especially, are not going to live in a museum.  They know that.  Even if they are unusually neat, they know it is not going to be perfect.  Seeing a perfect house only reminds them that they can't live like that.

This is worse, however.  Your place should be clean for showings.

http://www.inman.com/next/when-marketing-to-families-a-staged-listing-should-evoke-lived-in-feeling/