Why staging your home when preparing to sell is essential and what options are available to have a house staged
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When selling your home, there are many factors to consider that can make or break how fast it sells and for how much. Things like location, condition, amenities, age, improvements, utilities, staging and much more. Some of these, of course, are out of your control as a seller but that is all the more reason you need to make sure you have all your ducks in a row when it comes to the things you can affect.
It’s hard to say for sure which factors are the most important, but for today we’re going to focus on staging because I believe it to be extremely important and I also feel like it gets overlooked quite often when homeowners start thinking about what they need to do to prepare to sell their home.
Straighten Up the Clutter
Before we get into more costly options, let’s start simple and cheap. Tidying up around the house is the number one place to start and my first recommendation to all of my clients. This is often hard for me to recommend because I don’t at all mean to infer that a seller’s house is messy. Trust me, I am no model when it comes to a tidy home.
Of course, you should make sure the countertops, floors, bathrooms and such are clean but that pretty much goes without saying. What I’m talking about is your average clutter. Stuff. I mean, let’s face it, it’s our home and we live there. Life is full of clutter. But you have to remind yourself that when potential buyers are previewing your home, both in the listing photos and in person, they are trying to picture themselves making your house their home, what it will look like with their furniture and personal items. If there are more of your personal items out and about this can be harder for them and they just skip right on to the next listing in their search.
So what I recommend to my sellers is this, put away as many personal items as you can either in drawers or cabinets or even box some things up and store them awhile if they aren’t daily necessities. (This can take some of the load off come moving day as well). Things like kids or pets toys, books and magazines, blankets and pillows, posters and family photos, clothes, shoes, dishes, electronics, etc. Make sure things like this are out of sight. This also makes the house feel larger to buyers previewing your home. When there is less stuff around the house, buyers will feel like they will have more room for all of their stuff.
Adding Staging Furniture and Professional Staging Companies
The next thing to consider is whether or not you need to add, or sometimes remove, furniture around your house. If you have rooms where you have to walk a maze to get from one side to the other or can’t tell what color the flooring is, it may be necessary to remove some furniture. This goes back to my previous point of making the house feel larger to buyers.
Sometimes it can even be beneficial to add some furniture as well. Maybe you have an extra room that you don’t have a real use for, this is especially common when in need of a downsize, and it would be better to showcase it as another bedroom or maybe a fitness room or home office.
At times, it can even be beneficial to bring in a professional staging company. They know what design trends are in right now and how to layout furnishings to make your house super appealing to buyers. This option does bring an added cost of course. According to LCP360 (a digital marketing company) professional staging costs an average of $400 and can range all the way up to $5000. (I most certainly would not recommend spending anywhere near $5000 unless you had a unique, expensive property.) This depends on the size of your home and how much furniture you need to fill your house. This can be well worth it though when you consider the extra money it brings because buyers consistently pay more for homes that are at least lightly staged than homes that have no staging at all. Professional staging can especially be a great option if you have a home with a unique layout where buyers will have trouble picturing where furniture would actually go. It’s also a good option if you are selling your home after you have already moved into your new home and don’t have a lot of furniture left to accent the house with.
Virtual Staging – Is it a good alternative?
Picture Courtesy of Boxbrownie.com
Another option relatively new to the market with the advancement of technology today is virtual staging. This is a great option if you have a vacant property. Maybe you inherited a house and have removed all the belongings. Maybe you have an investment property without a tenant in place and don’t want to pay for physical staging. Or you were able to purchase and settle into your new home before having to sell your old home and now its empty because you’ve already moved all your furniture.
This option obviously does not stage the home physically for buyers to see when previewing the home in person, but it will virtually stage the listing photographs your real estate agent had done for you. (FYI, if you’ve used a real estate agent that made you pay for your own listing photos and just think that’s how the industry works, you used the wrong agent my friend. I ALWAYS include listing photos for free for ALL of my sellers on top of already lower listing fee.) This is typically a more affordable option than using a professional company to physically stage your home, but still a good way to show buyers what the house could look like with furniture.
And if you were super smart and called your #RealValueRealtor to list your home, I include virtual staging for vacant properties.*
Benefits of Staging a Listing
Now you still may be asking why any of this is even worth doing when selling your home. Believe it or not it can be a crucial factor in how fast your home sells and for how much. According to REALTOR magazine, homes that are staged sell for an average of 25% more than homes without staging. Who doesn’t want to sell their home for 25% more money?! Further, according to the Real Estate Staging Association staged homes sell between 6% and 10% faster than unstaged homes. But that’s not even all the benefits. You can check out more stats about how staging affects a listing HERE.
Sell faster and for more money? Sounds like a no brainer to me! But don’t stop there, save even more money when you list with your #RealValueRealtor and my 1.75% listing fee! Find out more at www.zachburnhamrealtor.com!
*Price limitations apply in order for virtual staging to be included in the listing fee. Offer valid as of 02/2023 but subject to change. But basic professional photography to showcase in the MLS Listing is always included free of charge!