Is staging a house for sale worth it?

In today’s Ask the Real Estate Agent blog, I’m answering a question about whether it makes sense to stage a home. We’ve had several sellers ask us that, sometimes they are in a situation where they have already moved and all of their stuff is out. Other times they are still living in the home, so each time it is a unique scenario. What I have found in my experience, working with hundreds of sellers, is that staging definitely helps.

Benefits of staging a home for sale

1. It gets more buyers into the home. If they see a home that is properly staged and has great looking pictures online, they are more likely to come see it in person
2. when they get there, it makes it easier for them to visualize themselves in the home. And this applies to whether the home is filled with your own stuff, or the home is vacant. Just seeing a properly staged home makes it easier to see how one would use the space
3.  Staging helps to hide some of the faults in the home. There are things that great stagers can do: make a smaller room look bigger or a make an unusable space look more usable. They have lots of ways to make the home look better

Staged homes sell faster and for more money.

There are lots of results that point to staging being something that majorly benefits sellers. Typicaly the 2 key results are:

Staging a House to Sell Quickly
It helps sell homes quicker. Depending on which surveys you look at, staged homes sell anywhere from a couple of weeks fr showings, less time on the market. Homes that sell quicker sell for better prices. Typically, professional home staging will sell weeks to a couple of months faster than an unstaged home. That’s a big deal as less time means less showings and hassle.

Home Staging Price Increase

The other big factor is the price. There are lots of different surveys that talk about this, you can see some home staging statistics on price increase here. Depending on the market you are in, you’re going to get anywhere from 2 to 5% more for your listing. We have a great example from a blog we did back in 2013, but it is still very applicable. We sold an identical home in the same neighborhood, same time period, and got 5% more than the other home. Our home was staged the other home was vacant. That is a big difference when you are talking about a million dollar price point.

Home Stagings Statistics

Staging vs Not Staging

We work with True House Design staging company of Alexandria, VA that does everything from small staging jobs to where they work with your existing furniture helping you decide what to put where, what to get rid of, etc. They also do total home staging jobs, their portfolio is absolutely stunning, take a look if you need some inspiration.

In summary, staging will help your house look better to buyers, help you get more buyers in the door, help sell the home for more money in less time. It is something we have seen work very well in Arlington and DC, as well as the surrounding areas, so we are happy to answer any specific questions you may have.