Home Mortgage Alliance Corporation (HMAC)

Home staging sells the sizzle so buyers want the steak

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Published Date 5/21/2024

Stores do it and you don’t even realize it. You walk past a chic clothing establishment and your eyes are drawn to the store’s entry. There, piles of neatly stacked sweaters are piled on a display, with a few body forms — perhaps showing you how to pair them with jewelry and slacks. You’re hooked and walk in.

Home staging isn’t that different. It’s like eye candy on a much bigger scale, merchandising your home to sell for the highest price in the shortest amount of time. Realtor.com’s Margaret Heidenry explains, “Home staging—where you decorate your house in an effort to entice buyers to bite—may seem counterintuitive at first blush: Why spend money on real estate if you’re moving out? Simple answer: because home staging can get you more money for your home sale.”

If your real estate agent has suggested staging, it’s because evidence shows staging real estate is usually well worth the effort. According to a 2023 report from the National Association of Realtors, “20% of buyers’ agents said that staging a home increased the dollar value offered between one and five percent, compared to other similar homes on the market that were not staged. Nothing to sneeze at. But just how much does home staging really cost?

Cost is relative. The pricier the staged home, the higher the potential home staging costs. Just as you wouldn’t dud out a $200,00 bungalow with opulent decor, you wouldn’t make a $800k home into a study in IKEA items priced below $20 each. “As a general rule of thumb, the average cost for most stagers is $300 to $600 for an initial design consultation, and $500 to $600 per month per staged room.

In consulting with real estate professionals, Heidenry finds that staging an entire 2,000-square-foot home would cost around $2,000 to $2,400 a month, and most professional home stagers also require a three-month minimum staging contract despite the possibility of selling the home in 24 hours. That could bring your final staging bill to $7,200. That’s on the high end, but stay tuned — there are ways to hybrid this.

While home staging sounds expensive, if you own a vacant home that takes months to sell, you’ll already be paying lots of bills every month anyway. “If a home stager can help buyers envision how fabulous your living room looks with a little classy furniture and tasteful decor, the costs of home staging may be some of the best money you have ever spent,” says Heidenry. Vacant homes can be “vignetted” as well, adding only a few items to show how the rooms can be used.

Got a lot of great decor stuff of your own? Most home stagers can work with it. But they often need to purchase fresh towels, flowers, and/or fruit, as these small touches make a big difference. This is especially true with a vacant house. The layout of your home counts as well. While home stagers often use lightweight versions of basic furniture pieces, heavy lifting in a multistory house still usually means hiring additional help to move furniture.

Your furniture pieces and decor may not, however, be what your agent believes might float the buying public’s boat. If you have a ton of antiques the stager may recommend you declutter by placing them into storage along with lots of your knick-knacks, tacking that monthly rental onto your overall staging costs. Staging services may also suggest that sellers declutter and depersonalize the home by removing unusual, religious or political, and personal items, so home buyers can more easily envision themselves living in the home.

Another important element that can help ensure staging success? Painting. That dark burgundy accent wall in the dining room or a child’s bright pink bedroom might not be the best bet for attracting a wide range of buyers. A fresh coat in a 12-by-12-foot room will cost a DIYer around $200, or $400 to $700 if left to the pros.

The good news? Heidenry says you don’t have to pay a home stager to transform the decor of your house from basement laundry room to attic storage, focusing instead on the main areas of a home only. That means the kitchen, living room, dining room, and master bedroom. Just like that retail store we started out with here, however, you’ll also want to pay attention to what the buyers see when they first step in the front door. “That first impression, whether it be a bare, un-staged home or an inviting, perfectly staged one, can make the difference in whether they decide to buy and how much they are willing to pay for your house,” says Heidenry.

Want the advice of a stager but prefer to DIY your staging? Most stagers offer the option of paying a small fee (perhaps $125 for 90 minutes) for an initial consultation instead of full-service staging. This is where the stager will tell you how to rearrange or store items, where to paint, and what to declutter. It’s important not to take offense because the stager recommends boxing up your collection of Precious Moments figurines. Remember that staging is not interior design. It’s merchandizing. And this is when you transform from being a homeowner to a home seller.

Your agent is a resource as well. He or she may recommend that you start by decluttering your home yourself or spending money on a specific home improvement task instead of hiring a professional stager, depending on her own first-time impression of your home.

Bottom line? Staging makes a home buyer-ready. And that usually means a higher price in a shorter length of time before someone signs on the other bottom line.

Realtor,TBWS

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