Staging Your Home for Sale
Tip It!I just ran across an interesting article on staging your home for sale. Did you know that properly staging your home can increase the sale price by as much as 20% (or even 50% in high end neighborhoods and/or hot markets) and can make it sell seven times faster? But proper staging isn’t necessarily a do-it-yourself endeavor… Rather, it can involve redesigns, renovations, the addition of furniture, and even a housesitter to give a vacant home a lived-in feel. As it turns out, home staging is fast becoming a hot industry, with the fees ranging from $500-$5000 (with an average of $1,800 per house). Not surprisingly, staging makes the biggest difference in markets with a glut of listings, where it can make the difference between selling your house and having it sit on the market indefinitely. If you’re looking to sell your house, this article is definitely worth a quick read.
For more information on moving, check out my Roadmap for a Successful Relocation.
[Source: Bankrate.com]
Published on March 23rd, 2006 - 9 Comments
Filed under: Real Estate
About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!
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March 23rd, 2006 at 9:42 am
My wife watches a show on HGTV or TLC about this. Maybe even two
I think one’s called Sell This House. It does make sense to spend some time (and usually very little money) to make the home more appealing to the general populus. Not everyone has the same eccentric tastes as we do.
March 23rd, 2006 at 11:06 am
There are a number of shows actually. HGTV has Designed to Sell and there’s one on A&E called Take This House and Sell It. Sell This House is on A&E as well, but is mainly about flipping houses. Still, there’s some good stuff in there about what things will add value to the house.
March 23rd, 2006 at 12:00 pm
Design to Sell is really good. It makes me wonder two things: (a) where can I get a good deal on a house that hasn’t been fixed up and (b) why don’t people spend the $2000 to fix up their house when they are living in it, so they can enjoy it more? (In fact there was one couple that decided to stay rather than move after the makeover.)
March 23rd, 2006 at 1:07 pm
Design to Sell is really good, the one I watched the other night, the couple received 20k above their asking price after the Design to Sell crew was done. But I agree, it does make me wonder why people don’t fix up their house while they are living in it, some of the changes they do look really easy. And on Sell This House on A&E they spend a lot less than the $2000 that Design to Sell does, a lot of times the makeover simply involves repainting, removing some clutter and rearranging the furniture.
March 23rd, 2006 at 7:20 pm
We sold our last home about a year ago. We were under a lot of pressure to sell due to the fact that I took a job across the country. And, well, if the house didn’t sell, I was leaving my family behind until it did. So we really wanted to sell, but we needed as much money as we could out of the sale. So we consciously did not price our house low, but priced it fair. In fact, there were other similar homes in our neighborhood priced lower. We opted to *kill* ourselves cleaning it up and cleaning it out. We did not do “staging” or anything extravagant, but we *did* pack up all our “personal belongings”, made the house look very neutral, and put some furniture in storage (to make it look bigger). We touched up paint and put in new linoleum in the kitchen (cheap but sure looked new!) and new carpeting in one room. WE HAD A FULL PRICE OFFER WITH THE FIRST FAMILY TO SEE IT – 2 DAYS AFTER IT WAS LISTED. THEN, we had another FULL PRICE OFFER as backup. We closed quickly and I didn’t need to leave my family behind! It’s TOTALLY worth it to spend time fixing up your house for sale.
March 25th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
That’s great Lisa! We actually just bought our house 3 months ago. But, I like to watch those shows to decorate and create a wonderful environment free of clutter. My in-laws had to fix up their house a few years ago to get it ready for sale. My mother-in-law hated to have the house in the shape she had wanted it years ago, only to sell it. Now, I’m making sure that I don’t have the same experience.
Oh, Sell this House is about staging. I was thinking of Flip This House, another show on A&E that I enjoy.
March 26th, 2006 at 7:28 am
Don’t underestimate the power of curb appeal too- rake out the dead leaves from your yard, pick up the sticks, fix any loose shingles on your roof, mow the lawn (seems obvious, but…). My parents are thinking of selling, so last fall I spent two weekends planting over 200 flower bulbs so it would look inviting in the spring and summer. We spent about $75 and flowers are already coming up! It’s a cheap way to give the house some color and catch buyer’s eyes.
March 31st, 2006 at 10:42 pm
Staging can be very effective. We have a local real estate company that does a very effective job of staging and they get about 10% ($60K) more for the houses they sell than other agents.
According to the head of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals (did you know there was an association?), staging can boost the selling price 6 to 20 percent in a moderately priced neighborhood and as high as 20 to 50 percent for luxury homes or in a particularly hot market
April 30th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
As a professional Home Stager/Interior Designer for over 20 years now, I can tell you that staging homes prior to listing on the market will most certainly bring the homeowner a fast sell at a high end price. Stats show that staged homes often bring in a 20% increase in the asking price. The fact that the home is selling in the million dollar range or the low $200’s does not matter. Staging is extremely effective. If you want your home to “stand out” in the crowd consider consulting with a professional regarding the condition of your home. Staging is a win-win situation for both the seller and the buyer. If you need further information you may visit us at Homestages.com