Introduction to Home Staging
Staging a home has become a popular trend over the last few years as sellers look to maximize their sale price in a shorter amount of time. According to a study from the National Association of REALTORS©, 77 percent of buyers say it's easier to visualize a staged home as one that could be their future home. Staging also makes a home look more "move-in ready." And proper staging can increase the sale price by 5-10% AND make it sell faster.
The Basics of Staging
Staging can be as simple as making a home look its best with the existing furnishings or furnishing a vacant home with furniture and accessories rented from a staging company. The primary goal of staging a home is to allow buyers to focus on the home. In Charlotte, it is rare to sell a home furnished, so we do not want buyers to focus on things that they are not going to be purchasing. That can be very distracting. Sometimes, by staging with more current furnishings, that can reduce the possible negative impact of a home’s need for updates, and this can improve the sale price.
Cost-Effective Staging Strategies
When using furnishings provided by a staging company for the main living areas such as the family room, master bedroom, home office, dining room, and accessories for bathrooms and kitchen, the cost is surprisingly low. For most houses, renting the furnishings only costs $2,500-$5,000 for a 3 month rental period. A good real estate agent should be able to recommend 2-3 staging companies from which to get a proposal.
Staging While Living in the Home
If you plan to remain in your home while it is for sale, there are several key strategies to consider. The first is it that it is critically important to remove any clutter in rooms. This might include reducing the number of pictures, art and books. Sometimes, it could be that removing some furniture from a room can make it appear larger. Replacing old bath towels with white ones and using neutral bedding can have a positive effect. If there are any walls with bold paint colors or colors that are outdated, they should be painted a neutral color. If there is carpet and it is in bad condition or stains cannot be removed, then it should be replaced. Some sellers believe that it is best to give the buyer a credit so that the buyer can replace the carpet with something that they prefer. But this strategy rarely works. Regardless of the seller offering a credit, carpet that is in poor condition can leave a negative impression regardless of how nice the rest of the home is.
The Return on Investment of Staging
The return on investment for staging can be significant. If, as an example, an unstaged home would sell for $500,000, and it costs $5,000 to fully stage it, then the return on investment could be 500-1000%. Unfortunately, many real estate agents do not understand this potential and thus do not recommend staging to their clients. But those agents who are experienced and excellent at what they do, know that staging works.
For our clients, we provide a free consultation by a staging professional. Contact us if you are thinking about selling your home in the near future.
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