Staging Your Home
I don't put a home on the market unless it has been properly staged. It is your ticket to getting your home sold and can mean the difference between months of holding costs and mortgage payments or a quick sale. In fact, USA Today cited a recent study which revealed that staged listings sold almost twice as fast as nonstaged houses, and on average, at substantilly higher prices. If a home is not staged on the front end, you can never go back and do it on the back end. It will be too late - the buyers who snubbed or rejected the house because it was cluttered or in bad repair will never come back.
You may be thinking: "Staging is too much hassle. Can't I just give a concession?" Of course you could, but buyers often use outstanding repairs to negotiate an even lower price. If they see a house that needs painting, they may want to drop the price by thousands of dollars. Paint is worth $20 in the gallon and thousands on the wall. Would you rather pay a couple hundred dollars up front or deduct thousands from your closing check?
In the two videos below - in each case the realtor used $250 to stage a room. Notice the before and after looks. If you were a buyer - which would you be willing to spend more money on?
I've also included a home stager's toolkit - just to get you started thinking how we can add thousands of dollars to your closing check by just spending a few hundred when it goes on the market. If you have any questions - or would like me to give you a staging consultation - feel free to contact me!
