If you’ve been Googling how to sell your home, you might have come across the phrase “staging”. But what it is?
When a home is going to be listed for sale, staging professionals, or real estate agents, or savvy sellers, essentially can stage a property to make it look its absolute best to attract buyers. It’s like giving your house a makeover: from rearranging furniture to adding some decorative touches.
Let’s discuss how to effectively stage a home, whether it’s worth doing to boost your home sale, and what options you have.
The Benefits Of Home Staging
You’d be surprised at the power of staging. Using it as part of the selling strategy, it can transform even the most outdated and drab space into one that’s cleaner and more cozy. Here's some reasons why home staging can be super effective in maximizing your selling success:
💭 Reality > Imagination
A home staging study by the National Association of Realtors in 2021 showed that 82% of buyer agents said home staging made it easier for a potential buyer to visualize that property as their future home. When it comes the time to list your home you need to see your space through the eyes of a buyer.
And that’s why it is so important to hire a well qualified real estate agent, because they will point out things you hadn’t even thought about. You might think your gallery wall full of photos of your children is utterly delightful, but see this from the buyers’ perspective. They might think:
- This looks like clutter. They can’t imagine where they’d put all their own things.
- It just looks too much like your home, and not a place that could be their's.
The same goes for bright colors on the walls (a lime green might be the perfect color for your games room, but that will certainly not be everyone’s cup of tea!) or any other eccentric or outlandish decorating. By decluttering, removing super personal items like photos, and painting the walls a neutral color, you are providing a blank canvas for a buyer to imagine how they’d live in the home.
📈 Increase sales price
The NAR study mentioned above also highlighted that 23% of buyer agents agreed staging a home increased the dollar amount offered to the seller when compared to similar non-staged homes. We typically see an increase of between 1-5%. Just think… if you’re selling your house for $350,000 then a 5% increase would be $367,500!
Why is this? Because great staging sprinkles a little bit of magic on the home by making it appear more valuable. For example, a small living room that is well-staged can actually appear much bigger, or a dated bedroom could appear more modern.
This is even more important if you’ve already vacated your property and the home is devoid of furniture. Staging makes an empty space appearing more spacious and inviting.
🕵️ First impressions
With most buyers starting their home search on Zillow, you need your photos to pop. Aside from the obvious task of hiring a professional photographer (which your real estate agent should take care of), staging your home will really help make a good first impression. A well-staged home is much more eye-catching when those photos are shared on social media and listing websites.
🗓️ Less time on market
If you’re a seller, that means you were once a buyer... and I bet you might’ve browsed a few properties online that had been on the market for over a year and wondered what was wrong with them! Perhaps you saw a property with a FOR SALE sign that just never came down, and wondered if the house was falling apart.
When homes sit on the market, they can repel buyers, but the good news is that a well-staged home typically sells faster. NAR states that 31% of buyer agents agreed staging a home massively decreased the amount of time that home was on the market.
Professional Staging
So, you’ve decided you absolutely want to stage your home to maximize your profit on your home sale. Now is the time to decide if you’ll DIY this task, or hire the pros? If you have the budget to hire a professional home stager, your agent will be able to recommend a company.
Stagers typically have a huge inventory of furniture, decor, artwork, rugs and more. After a consultation about what type of buyer you’re trying to attract, they’ll curate the perfect items to stage your home in the least intrusive way possible (especially important if you’re still living there!). If you still have furniture in the property they may rearrange it to show a more efficient use of space.
Do It Yourself
Professional home staging can cost between several hundred dollars running up to several thousand dollars, so it’s no surprise many people look for ways they can DIY the staging. If you work with an experienced agent who knows what buyers want in this market, they will be able to make suggestions on what furniture to move, inexpensive decor to buy, and what to declutter. Tasks you’ll need to think about doing to prep your home for market include:
- Cleaning your home top to bottom, interior and exterior.
- Decluttering personal items like family photos, cluttered countertops.
- Rearranging furniture so the house has great flow when walking through. Ensure chairs aren't blocking doorways, and move your bed to the center of your bedroom room so it’s not pushed up against one wall. You may even need to temporarily hire a storage unit to remove excess furniture.
- Cleaning or repainting marks and scuffs on walls.
- Replacing dingy curtains or dusting all blinds.
- Adding throw pillows and blankets to the living room, family room and bedrooms, and adding fresh flowers and plants to liven up the place.
- Use candles and diffusers to make your house smell amazing.
- And, importantly, add plenty of lamps to create ambience (as opposed to relying on harsh overhead lighting). Use warm bulbs for a cozy feel.
It’s important to remember that once you’ve listed your house, it’s no longer “home”. It’s simply an asset you’re selling. Therefore you need to come into this with an objective mind, and put yourself in the shoes of a prospective buyer. And try not to take anything personally: if your agent tells you your house smells like your dogs, figure out how to overcome that rather than being insulted.
Always speak to a trusted, local agent — who knows what local buyers are looking for — to save your time and money.
