Home staging has become a “must do” for sellers. Some 77% of buyer’s agents said home staging makes it easier for prospective buyers to visualize the property as a future home. Staged homes sell faster and for more money than those that are unstaged, according to industry analysis.
A stager can help with your online listing, too. A staggering number of people—95% according to a National Association of Realtors (NAR) report—use the Internet during their home search. That means that your home had better show really well online. Staging and photos by a professional can help you do that—and keep your home off Terrible Real Estate Agent Photographs.
Consider the return on investment. As Sid Pinkerton, a New York City-based stager, points out, if you found a financial planner who could give you a return on investment (ROI) of 5%, 10%, or sometimes as much as 20%, “wouldn’t you think they were a genius? Well, that’s what a good stager can do.”
How Staging Affects Sale Price
According to the NAR report, 58% of sellers’ realtors believe that buyers offer more money for staged homes (29% think they offer 1% to 5% more; 21% put the increase at 6% to 10%; 3% put it as high as 20%). Only 14% of the realtors didn’t feel staging had any impact on a home’s selling price. Home Staging Resource is even more bullish on staging (as you’d expect): Its website states that in a survey of 3,500 staged homes, 46% sold for 10% more than they would have unstaged.
Home Staging Benefits
- Staging forces you to think like a buyer. When you set out to stage your home for the market, you will be looking at the home as if you were a buyer. Adopting this perspective early on will help you in many ways when preparing your home for the market.
- Staging increases likelihood of a sale. When selling your home, you must do everything within your power to increase your chances of selling — and I mean everything. These techniques can give you an extra edge in selling the home quickly.
- Staging reduces the home’s time on market. When you put in the extra effort to stage your home effectively, you will move closer to a quick sale. Anyone who has sold a home before can attest to the fact that the least time the home is on the market, the better. This is especially important if you will be paying two mortgages until the home sells (as is the case when you buy a new home before selling the old one).
- Staging helps justify the asking price. If you are in a seller’s market and you price your home correctly, you probably won’t have to haggle over the asking price. But in a market that leans toward the buyer, you need everything in your favor to justify the asking price. Proper home staging can help you justify the asking price by positioning the home more favorably in the buyer’s mind.
