Why You Should Stage Your Home Before Selling

Staging showcases your home in its best light, making it more attractive — and more valuable — to potential buyers. When you’re getting ready to put your house on the market, it’s one of the most important things you can do as a seller to make sure your home sells quickly for top dollar. According to a survey by the National Association of Realtors, 82% of buyer’s agents believe that staging properties helps their buyers to better visualize the property as their future home. Staging your home can raise its dollar value 1%-5% or more over similar properties that are not staged, helping you get the best price for your home. It can even help your home sell faster — a third of seller’s agents indicated on the survey that staging significantly decreased the time properties spent on the market. 

Although it might sound like a daunting task to stage your home for showings, it’s not as difficult as it sounds. You don’t have to redo every room. Focus on the most important spaces: the living room, the kitchen, the primary bedroom, the dining room. Now that more people are working remotely from home, you might consider staging a home office to show off the full potential of your space. 

You also don’t have to completely redecorate! Stagers will work with your existing furniture and decor as much as they can. They may also bring in their own pieces to use on your property. Before any of my listings go on the market, I’ll bring my stager in for a consultation. The stager assesses the property and provides a list of recommendations with small suggested updates the sellers can make that will wow potential buyers — landscaping, painting, reorganization ideas, or specific items to purchase that they think will work well in the home. I’ll also pay for the stager to come back and place any staging furniture or decor as needed. Any of the suggested updates you choose to make are completely optional, and will probably cost $1000-$3000 if you choose to do them. In my experience, these updates make your home photograph better, sell faster, and net you a higher sales price. It’s definitely worth the cost if you can afford it.

 Here's an example from one of my listings of the difference staging can make!

Data from 2021 Profile on Home Staging by National Association of REALTORS®.

Photo by Sidekix Media on Unsplash.