Home Staging

Is it worth it?

When putting your home on the market there are many factors to consider, including whether or not to stage your home.

When trying to decide if would be beneficial to stage your home for sale the first thing to consider is the cost of staging in your area.  Hiring a professional home stager can range from anywhere from $200-$6000 depending on where you live and the size of your home.  Most professional home stagers charge hourly fees for their time as well as rental fees for furnishings.  If you are a creative person and decide to do it yourself you could save some money by borrowing items from friends and neighbors or garage sale shopping.  It is not recommended though to go out and buy a bunch of furnishings that you will be stuck with no use for after the sale.

Staging is considered “normal” in some markets and not so much in others.  Compare to other homes that are on the market sometimes you can get away with not staging at all if none of the other homes are staged.  However, staging in those markets could give you a competitive advantage.  Not every single room needs to be staged.  A National Association of Realtors survey found that the living room and kitchen are the most important rooms to stage.

Another possibility is virtual staging, where photos of vacant homes are edited to appear to be furnished.  This is an excellent option if your home is being marketed to buyers online.  Virtual staging can be done for $325 for 5 photos.

Consider the overall impact of staging in your market.  Staging is an investment and you must decide whether or not it is worth it for your in your specific market.  Ask your agent if they see a lot of staged homes or not and whether it makes a difference in price or days on the market.

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