<p>I’ve recently sold a house vacant and got above listing price, with a brand new kitchen and a scrupulously clean, lemon-scented (cleaners, not nasty fake smell) house. Staging is necessary only in certain markets, and definitely if you live there. </p>
<p>I’d have to do my own staging for those prices! Having to pack anyway, I’d just pack and rent a storage unit.</p>
<p>^^My house was from Mom’s Estate. Mom did NOT spend much on furnishing and her better ones were over 40 years old. They were out of style or too beat up to be used for staging.</p>
<p>I didn’t believe in staging until some friends sold their first little old house. It had a tiny horrid bathroom that we all thought was fine when we visited. But when we saw what the realtor or stager did we couldn’t believe the difference. Just fixing that one room probably cost $500 and brought $5000 more. </p>
<p>Good luck with the sal!</p>
<p>I would recommend staging the main room as you enter the house and the master bedroom. No need to stage the secondary bedrooms. Then accessories and stuff for bathroom and kitchen. The quality of staging should be comparable to the asking price. If you feel your target is empty nesters, decor should be appealing to that group.</p>
<p>I’m guessing you are at high end. Try to negotiate the staging with realtor and use some of your own nice towels and kitchen items. Or use this chance to buy some nice new small items that will move to your new home.</p>
<p>^^ yes I am at the higher end and the comparable sold homes are staged nicely. I have decided to spend $ on that but perhaps not all the way. The 500sf patio is unique in condo living it should be highlighted. </p>
<p>Hmmm</p>
<p>My parents home was pretty much empty when we sold it. We listed it for MORE than the Realtor recommended and it had a buyer within 2 days. That buyer lost his job about a week later and dropped out. Back on the market and it had 3 buyers I think the first day. We got our asking price.</p>
<p>I am somewhat leery of Realtors’ advice. Some is good, some is self-serving. I’ve bought and sold many properties. I trust my own instincts more than theirs. I have long learned that Realtors will push for self-serving solutions that have little/no impact to their commissions…especially if they can list and close the home within 2 months. </p>
<p>I would first try to sell it empty and clean. If nothing happens, then consider staging the living room, master bedroom, and maybe the kitchen. I would purchase things that we or our kids could later use ourselves. No way would I pay someone $5k to bring stuff in and then take away. </p>
<p>I own vacation rentals and I belong to an Owners Forum where we share tips for furnishing the rentals in ways that will attract Guests…and that is typically thru lovely pics of well-staged rentals. I am always impressed by the people who creatively find ways to outfit their rentals for little money. </p>
<p>Definitely highlight the patio with furniture, tables and lots of potted plants</p>
<p>You will find that most staging companies don’t have good stuff for staging patio areas.</p>
<p>Op, I agree your penthouse should be staged. Many buyers don’t have enough imagination to fill those empty spaces and rooms can actually look smaller without furniture. You should negotiate the cost of this and maybe remind them that in some areas staging is free, along with free marketing and design advice, since those things all help the real estate wheel to turn more smoothly and further enhance the rep of the realtor and their team!</p>
Yes, we are staging today, the whole house. The price difference is not that great, perhaps $1000 between half and full. It would be nicer if we can stage the loft area and two large patios. The selling price differential is substantial between un-staged and staged in our area. I checked one condo had only one photo vs. fully staged condos, the price per square feet could be as much as 10%, some times 20%. One thing can indicate staging is popular here, we have been turned down by two stagers, they were too busy.
Wow, staging companies too busy. That is fascinating! Staging companies were the first to collapse during the real estate recession. I guess the ones that survived are being careful about expanding their furniture inventory
No, the so called stager is basically one man interior design company, they RENT furniture from staging supplier and hire temp hand to move the furniture. I think they buy some nice towels and linen for the stock, perhaps stock some fake flowers and light bulbs. ;
When they called too busy, is that they have a lot of engagements and cannot handle. Making about $1000 per job, not a bad business for an interior designer.
@artloversplus: Are you staged and on the market? How is the traffic? Have you gotten a dream offer yet?
Late here, but my experience with staging/selling houses is that you want a minimum of everything, just enough to tickle the imagination–and that good staging can sell a house. PLUS you must have a table with chairs so that people can sit and discuss the house.
In my area, there are no houses for sale for less than a million dollars. Suppose that staging was worth 5% of the purchase price: that’s a minimum of $50,000. Probably a lot more, because a million dollar house here is a bargain-basement house, and most houses sell for much more.
For $50,000, or $100,000, or $200,000, you bet I’m staging any house I sell. The price of staging is a teeny tiny pinprick compared to the expected gains. Virtually every house on the market here is staged.
If houses in your area go for $200,000, and staging is worth 5%, that’s $10,000. Then it’s not so obvious to stage, because the price of staging the house is a significant percentage of the potential gain, and you might not get any advantage.
I am a big believer in staging. I sold a house 10 years ago to relocate for a job, and had very little time or money to prepare to sell. It was a hot market, but the house was very small and old, on a rather undesirable lot, had a tiiiiiny kitchen with original Formica countertops, pink bathroom fixtures upstairs, and many other flaws that made us fear a poor offer. We hired a stager for $500. We had seen her work in a friend’s house that was great. She got rid of a lot of clutter, brought in beautiful linens for our main bedroom and baths, told us to get matching slipcovers and valances for a basement family room, and pulled an old table out of storage to stage as a “game table” in the basement with a half-done jigsaw puzzle on it. The family room ended up looking like a picture from a magazine and we spent maybe $200. She took the TV out of our bedroom and the big microwave out of the kitchen, making both rooms look more spacious. She also brought in an outdoor rug and a cafe set for our deck that was ratty looking, and added a few nice lamps and silk plants in the living area. Moved furniture around in an office/guest room that made it look much cozier. The difference was amazing! We ended up with multiple offers and sold the house for $20k over asking price. We are readying our current house to sell in a much weaker market and will definitely hire a stager.
Homes in our area sell for over $700,000 and often are NOT staged. We have seen completely empty homes that have NO linens and no touches to soften the uneven floors and other unsightly things. The homes still sell because we have a very low inventory in our area but I suspect they’d sell for significantly more if they were properly staged. The homes were sold as “tear downs” that are in rentable condition until the person is ready to tear the home down and rebuild.
Agree that the right stager can make all the difference, especially if their charge is minimal (like above where it was under $1000 for bids $20K above list price!
I will post few things later so you can see before and after.
As I said before, all comparable priced condos in the area are staged.The one did not stage did not get an offer above the asking.
Regardless of whether sellers opt to do staging, they should ALWAYS declutter!
I guess we were ahead of our time when we put our house on the market in 1980s. My friend next door (and former college roommate) helped us tear down the orange foliage wallpaper in the living room. Then we painted the walls beige. We also sent some of our clutter to her house and borrowed her nicer art and coffee table.