Touring Homes for Sale? Watch Out for These 6 Staging Tricks

Buying a home is probably one of the more stressful activities you can undertake. Not only do you have to get your finances in order and shop around with mortgage lenders, but you need to visit homes for sale. That part of the process might be fun, actually! When you show up to open the closet doors and dream about looking out the kitchen window while brewing your morning coffee, be sure you also consider these staging tricks that some home sellers employ.

1. Rugs -- especially in odd places

Rugs are one of the easiest ways to dress up your living space for not much money. For example, at my favorite home furnishings store, you can buy a cute washable 5' x 7' rug for less than $100. So it probably won't be surprising to see rugs on the floor of any home you're checking out. It's a good idea to consider exactly where they are, though -- a rug placed in an odd corner of a room could be covering up damaged or stained flooring.

2. Curtains and other window coverings

Curtains, blinds, and other forms of window dressing are wonderful to have -- you can control the reach of natural light and maintain your privacy. But be sure to open those blinds or pull back those curtains when you visit a home for sale. After all, they could be serving to conceal a broken window, rotten frame, or even just a window that is smaller than it appears based on how the curtains are hung.

3. Furniture concerns

With pieces of furniture, you should consider the size of the furniture as well as how it's placed in the room. A living room with only a love seat might be a bit small to fit your beloved full-size sectional sofa. Or a bedroom with a full-sized bed might not be suitable to become your new guest room with queen-sized sleeping accommodations. Rather than relying on furniture sizes to judge the size of a room, consider bringing a tape measure to a viewing.

And if a piece of furniture seems oddly positioned, it's worth asking the real estate agent if you're allowed to move it for a quick look. You might find torn-up carpet underneath, or a damaged wall behind it.

4. Air fresheners and potpourri

Use your nose when you explore a home for sale. You might assume that smelling air fresheners, a bowl of potpourri, or even those cookies the sneaky listing agent baked right before the open house means that all is well. There could in fact be a cause for concern, though. A heavy air freshener smell is likely covering up other, less-pleasant odors, such as that from a pest infestation, mildew, or 30 years' worth of cigarette smoke that has seeped into the walls.

5. White noise machines and music

Yes, you need to use your ears when you visit an open house or attend a private showing, too! Is there music playing, or maybe a white noise machine? These could be covering up sounds from the street or the neighbors' kids yelling in the backyard. Ask the agent to turn off whatever's making noise, and spend some time listening to the ambient sounds you hear. If you value peace and quiet, you probably don't want to buy a home next door to one that houses half a dozen barking dogs, or on a busy street with lots of traffic noise.

6. Fresh paint

A lot of people dip into their checking accounts so they can paint their walls a neutral color before listing their homes for sale, and that makes sense. If you provide a blank canvas for potential buyers, they'll imagine their own favorite colors and treasured artwork on the walls. But if you notice fresh paint in conjunction with other suspicious choices (like odd rug and furniture placement), it should put your wind up a bit. Did the sellers paint their home because of a recent water leak? Or were the walls cracking because of a foundation problem?

If you attend an open house or a private showing of a home for sale, you might be focused on the home's location and various amenities. But it's worth paying attention to furniture placement, window coverings, and fresh paint -- because each of these could tell you more of what you need to know before you make an offer and get ready to sign for a mortgage loan.