Frequently Asked Questions about Home Staging

Today we are going to start a conversation about questions that are frequently raised about home staging.  Since our goal with this blog is to share conversations that we have and to continue those conversations, it made sense to have this one and more about home staging frequently asked questions.

What is home staging?

Home staging is the art of preparing a home going on the market to show off its best features in the most positive light.  The goals of home staging are to make the house look as good as possible to as many potential buyers as possible and to increase the chances for a quicker sale at the highest price.

Is there a typical range of home staging activities?

There are typically three main categories of home staging activities:

Basic Home Staging Consultation (2-8 hours) -  advice and coaching on removing, simplifying and rearranging the seller's furniture and accessories as well as selecting interior and exterior paint colors, carpeting and kitchen upgrades.

Home Updating and Restyling (average of 4 -12 hours) ~ stage home with seller's furniture and accessories.

Full Scale Home Staging ~ (varies with size of house and home staging needs) professional home stager provides furniture and accessories to stage key areas of the seller's home to their full advantage.

Why should I spend money to have my house staged by a professional?

Quality home staging by an experienced trained stager costs money!  For most houses, the home staging cost range can be from an hourly rate for a staging consultation to $3500 or more for the full staging of a vacant house.  For the savvy seller, this home staging cost is an investment in selling their house quicker and for the best possible price.  They recognize that a professionally staged house appeals to as many buyers as possible. 

Will my house sell quicker if I have it professionally staged?

According to a recent RESA (Real Estate Staging Association) study, staged houses sold in about ¾ of the time as the same house when not staged.  This study supports my experience with staging over 175 houses.  I have a dozen or more examples of staged houses that sold within 2 weeks or less and many more examples of houses that sold within a month or two.  In some cases, the quick sales were for houses staged after being on the market.  In other cases, the quick sales were for houses staged before being listed. 

Professional staging sets the house apart from the competition for the right reasons.  It makes sense that a house that looks its absolute best will sell quicker than if it was not at its best. 

We encourage you to share questions you receive about home staging.  We can update this list of FAQs and continue the conversation.

Dwell in possibilities

Cindy

Homeowners of the Week – Young Family with Exciting New Future

It is always rewarding to help spiff up a house and make it the best it can be through staging.  I really enjoy working with my clients but there are times when I connect with the sellers on a special level.  And that is the case with our latest Homeowners of the Week.

They are a cute, young professional family with an exciting future in another city.  Being a parent and grandparent, this little family reminded me of my daughter and her family as they are all about the same age.  I really wanted to help them move on to the next chapter of their life together.

The call came on Memorial Day from their trusted Realtor.  She apologized for calling me on a holiday, but, this couple really needed to sell their home in a short period of time and were willing to do what they needed to do in order to make it happen.  Time was of the essence!  Life was moving on in two months! 

We met at the home on Tuesday.  I gave a list of homework, a staging plan and a proposal.  This energetic young couple accepted my plan and proposal and dove into doing their homework.  Then, I did my staging and the house went on the market the next week.  It was a sprint to get everything done but we did it because we worked as a team!  Whew!  What a week it was!

The staging turned this home from a functioning home for new parents into a really pretty house that would appeal to many different buyers.  You can see from the dramatic before and after pictures that we all really worked hard and it made a huge difference.

As is the case in such a dramatic transformation, the big reveal of the fully staged home was really fun!  My “homeowners of the week” were happy, the Realtor was happy and hopefully a buyer will soon be happy.  And yes, I was happy too because it all came together into something special.

What made this darling young couple so special?  They did everything I told them to do and let me do everything I wanted to do.  And they really appreciated the value that home staging did for their house.  Our team went all out!  And for that they are my Homeowners of the Week.

Dwell in possibilities

Cindy