Is home staging worth it?
If you’re selling your home, it should be clean and photogenic.
Home staging can help, and it has been proven to bring in more interested buyers and sell homes quicker and for more money. In fact, 85% of staged homes sell for 5-23% over list price, and a staged home can stay on the market for just 23 days, according to the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA).
How much does home staging cost?
The cost to stage a home ranges widely, with the national average running from $2,300 to $3,200, according to FixR, a home remodeling website.
Generally, a home stager will charge first for a consultation, which can cost $150 to $600 for two hours, FixR reports. The bulk of the cost is then determined by the size of the home and whether it’s occupied or vacant.
A 2,000-square-foot vacant home, for example, can cost $4,000 to stage upfront, with a rental fee of $2,000 per month for all the furniture and decor until it’s sold. For an occupied home, the cost can vary depending on the rooms the seller wants staged and the style and condition of their existing furnishings.
The cost of staging a home for two to three months typically falls somewhere around 0.75% of a home’s list price, according to Pam Tiberia, owner and designer at Spruce Interiors in Hampton, New Hampshire. So, if your home is being listed for $320,000, the cost to stage it for a few months would be $2,400.
For higher-end homes, however, the cost can be more.
“Typically, luxury homes range around 1% to 1.25% of the list price for staging,” says Tiberia. “These costs include labor, furniture rentals, movers and an insurance policy to protect the inventory.”
Virtual staging, which uses photo editing software to render a conceptual view of what a room or the entire property can look like, might be the least expensive option. Some companies offer renderings as inexpensively as $35 a room, says Tiberia, who typically does a combination of occupied and vacant staging.
Is home staging worth it?
Eighty-three percent of buyer agents report that home staging makes it easier for homebuyers to visualize a property as their future home, according to the National Association of Realtors. About three-quarters of home sellers see a 5% to 15% return on investment over the list price of their home after making an average investment of 1% of the list price, according to RESA.
“There are fewer houses on the market in a seller’s market, so those that are professionally staged will typically command more interest and garner more offers — creating a bidding war situation in which the home sells for more than the listing price,” explains Tiberia.
Ways to save on home staging
While paying to have your home staged is often well worth the cost, not
every staging service has to drain your bank account. You can do some DIY projects to save big bucks, and also use other savvy strategies in order to save: Many times, the home sellers stop at the consultation with a stager just to get ideas and then do some of the staging themselves, says Tiberia. This could be an option for you if you’re looking to save considerably. See if you can negotiate with the stager to reduce costs by having only certain rooms staged. Declutter and clean your home to make sure buyers can actually see what they’re potentially purchasing.
Painting interior walls yourself with a white or off-white color can change things dramatically. You may also want to hire a professional window cleaning company to help showcase your home’s natural light.
Updating lighting and fixtures can also enhance rooms, notes Tiberia. You can add decor such as mirrors or floor and table lamps.
One final pro tip: Move all furniture away from the walls. It’ll help communicate the ideal flow in each room to buyers, and help them envision how they can maximize the space.