Do I Need to Stage my Home?

February 25, 2019 Janet Lorusso

Are you wondering whether to invest in staging your home? *Spoiler alert* The answer is yes!

It’s called staging for a reason - your home is like a stage set where the buyers will need to envision living their best lives. Staging helps them see that story and imagine what it would be like to live there.

There are a lot of misconceptions about staging and a lot of the confusion is because there are various kinds of staging and different pieces to the staging process.

All staging begins with a staging consult. This is a walk-through of the property to see what would best highlight the advantages of buying your home and what updates (if any) are needed to make it stand out in the current market.

At JRL Interiors, our staging consults are available with a comprehensive written report detailing our recommendations.

If you are planning to sell your home anytime in the next 5 years, now is the time to start preparing! THIS post has tips on what to do ahead and enjoy, and what to do right before listing.

Getting a staging consult early on to determine a timeline for price appropriate updates you can enjoy ahead of listing is a smart move. You get to enjoy your updates AND you increase the value of your home and the speed at which it will sell when you are ready.

Misconception #1

I don’t need to stage my home, it’s a sellers market!

While your home may sell without staging, it will sell faster and for more money with staging. Staging will give you an edge over the competition, and make no mistake – once you put your home on the market it IS a competition, and the most appealing home wins.

Buying a home is an emotional as well as a financial decision. Buyers want to feel the pull of “home” in the place they are choosing to invest their money, and if they feel that emotional response, they are willing to pay more and move faster to get the house.

A good stager knows how to style your home to elicit that emotional response.

Misconception #2

I have to get rid of all my furniture to stage my home.

Absolutely not! The advantage to staging an occupied home is that there IS furniture there already.

You save money by not having to rent the big pieces that define each room. A stager for an occupied property will come in and use your stuff along with some staging props to showcase your home’s best features and make it stand out to potential buyers – both in the listing photo’s and in person.

A stager is helping your home tell a story to the buyer about how awesome it will be to live there.

Misconception #3

I don’t want to waste money on staging - I’m not in a hurry, I can just wait for my price.

Think of staging as an investment with a big return. Staging a 2200 sq ft, occupied (furnished) home can cost around $1200 - $1500 for stager fees.

And statistics show that staged homes sell for more money and faster than comparable un-staged properties. The longer your home sits on the market, the less likely it is you will get your asking price.

You may be forced into a price reduction to generate more interest, and buyers start assuming something is wrong with the property if it spends a lot of time on the market.

The cost of staging is ALWAYS less than the money lost in a price reduction.

There are startling statistics that argue quite strongly for staging any home for sale. A 2018 survey of over 4200 professionally staged homes found that 99% sold for at least 2% more and 85% sold for between 6% and 25% more than comparable un-staged homes.

For a home in the price range of $500,000 to $700,000 (typical median pricing in my area) that means staging will increase the value of the home by, at the very least, $10,000 and most likely more like $30,000 to $70,000 with potential for even more.

It, quite literally, pays to invest in preparing your home for the market.

There are 3 types of Staging

Occupied Staging

By occupied, we mean the seller is living in their furnished house.

The stager will recommend any editing of furnishings – most people have more than needed not less – and bring in staging props to showcase the home.

These props can be purchased by the homeowner OR often borrowed from the realtor or rented from the stager for approximately 30% of the cost of purchasing them. Typical props include bedding, throw pillows, artwork, plants, lamps, towels, and accessories.

If your property is in need of cosmetic updates, getting professional advice well in advance of listing will allow you to make price appropriate changes with broad market appeal in time to enjoy them yourself before you pass them along to a new owner.

Vacant Home Staging

Either the property is vacant because the owner has already moved out, or it is a new builder home built on spec. In these instances, staging will involve renting furnishings as well as staging props.

This is obviously more expensive than occupied staging, and owners will often choose to stage only essential rooms for this reason.

Essential spaces in order of importance are entry, living/dining spaces, kitchen, family room, master suite, and home office/library. Nice, but lower priority are porch/deck/patio, additional bedrooms, additional bathrooms, game room, laundry room.

Model Home Staging

Models should be fully furnished and decorated homes at a quality level reflective of the price point of the homes and targeted to the market demographic.

Models can then be sold fully furnished or the furnishings can be stored for re-use in future models.

Staged homes sell faster and for more money than comparable un-staged properties. It’s as simple as that.

Janet

If we can help you with your staging needs, contact us HERE to book your staging consultation.