Have you ever had a seller question why they need to put away personal/religious/political/sports items? It’s important for so many reasons. 

In 2022, we worked with over two hundred homeowners, staging their houses. Here’s a list of what sellers often don’t realize and how you can help them understand why taking personal items out of a house helps it appeal to more buyers.

Who: Seller

What: Family Photos 

Why: The primary reason is always safety—listing photos are on the internet. It’s also imperative that buyers who tour the house feel like it’s their future home, not like they’re a guest visiting the seller’s home. Seeing personal photos that aren’t “the buyer” takes them out of the experience of feeling it’s their future home.

Possible issues: A lot of sellers want their belongings around them while they are still living in the house. Remind them that their photos will look great in their new home.

How to Deal: As home stagers, we tell sellers that the moment they sign the contract with the realtor, their home becomes a product. Yes, it’s often emotional for sellers. The sooner they start thinking of the house as a material object, the easier it will be for them. Products can be marketed. Decluttering, depersonalizing, cleaning, and staging are the best ways to market a house to appeal to the highest number of buyers.

Exceptions: Pictures where the scenery is most prominent would likely be okay to keep on display. For example, a small photo of family members bundled up on a ski mountain or standing in front of Niagara Falls gives the impression, “People who live in this house have fun!” without focusing on the people themselves.

What: Religious 

Why: Religions are very personal and individualistic.

Possible issues: Once we explain how displaying religious items can affect buyers’ feeling like it’s their future home, most sellers agree to take them down. But this is a tough issue for many sellers. Some say, “Well, we don’t want anyone who isn’t religious to buy this house.” 

How to Deal: Understand their feelings. Sometimes, it is a non-negotiable issue and sellers insist on keeping objects. We can only let them know why this could affect buyers, the rest is up to them. If you don’t feel comfortable with the subject, ask your professional stager to tackle this. We’re used to it.

Exceptions: When sellers won’t budge and need their items to stay while they are in the home, try being supportive and photograph around the pieces. For instance, we staged a beautiful million-dollar home owned by a pastor. She was willing to take down all religious items throughout the house, but she also had a small chapel in the home that she used every day. She would not pack those items. How did we make it a non-issue? We moved all religious items to one side of the room, (the seller was fine having less space) and kept the rest of the room empty and called it a possible playroom. When buyers looked at the room, they saw mostly empty space with a lot of potential.

What: Political/Educational

Why: Anything that could offend someone with different beliefs should be pre-packed

Possible issues: A common issue we come across in our home staging is sellers who proudly display photographs with famous people, politicians, their diplomas (hey, they worked hard for that doctorate!), and their first dollar earned. It’s great to be proud of these accomplishments! This is a two-fold problem.

What: Sports stuff

Why: Some buyers are die-hard fans of their teams and if the seller has a different team on display, it’s not unheard of to have buyers refuse to even look at the house.

Possible Issues: Why oh why is this more of a struggle than family photos and religious items? Maybe because there are high school, college, and professional teams to display—and yes, the buyers’ kids would likely attend that school, but maybe they’re in a private school and that school the seller has on display beat their team last year. Bad feelings. You want each potential buyer to leave the house with all good feelings.

How to deal: Remind sellers that Maryland borders a lot of other states. Not everyone in the Baltimore area is a Ravens or Orioles fan. Or a buyer moving into Maryland from another state might not appreciate the seller decorating a man cave in a team’s banners and photos because they plan to stay true to their own hometown team.

Personal items are just that—personal. When selling a house, the dwelling becomes a commodity. It takes a different mindset to make that shift, but if you start early helping your client make the transition in their minds, they’ll understand your advice and likely be more willing to listen. The biggest factor is that the house is no longer a home, and as a house, it needs to be appealing to the highest number of buyers who will picture themselves living in it from the moment they walk in the door.