Setting the Stage: The Benefits of Staging Your Home for Sale

A lot of our posts are about how to make your home reflect your personal style, taste, and lifestyle. But what happens when it’s time to sell your home and move on to a new space? With so many people looking at your home, not everyone is going to love your style the same way you do. When it comes to selling your home you need your space to strike the perfect balance between blank state and homey. That’s where home staging comes into play. Home staging can become kind of pricey, which leads many people to go without. But it also can really pay off in the end. If you’re on the fence about staging your home, here are some benefits to help you make your decision.

Staging Helps Your Home Stand Out

Many home buyers start their searches online, which means the first impression they get of your home is the posted pictures of it. They say a picture’s worth a thousand words, but in this case a picture can be worth thousands of dollars, if it entices people to come tour your home and put in an offer. If people don’t like what they see online, there’s a good chance they’ll pass on seeing it in person. If there’s more than one home for sale in your neighborhood staging can also help your home stand out from your neighbors’. This can be especially important if your home is older and going up against new construction.

Staging Maximizes the Space

Professional stagers know how to get the most out of every room. If your home is on the smaller side, staging can help potential buyers see the openness of your home instead of focusing on the small square footage. Staging can give every room a clear purpose, taking the guesswork out of things for buyers. A good stager will be able to walk through your home and create a flow that is beneficial to most potential home buyers. When buyers can see how the space is used, they’re less likely to get hung up on a strange layout or a small floor plan, which increases their chances of buying.

Staging Can Lead to Higher Offers

The goal of staging your home is to get people interested in it, and if multiple people are interested a bidding war can begin. If a buyer falls in love with your home they’ll likely be more willing to offer over asking price to make sure they get it. There are some statistics to back up this idea — according to the National Association of Realtors 2017 Profile of Home Staging, 29% of sellers’ agents reported an increase of one to five percent in dollar value; 21% reported an increase of 8 to 10 percent, and 5% reported an increase of 11 to 15 percent. The correlation between staging and final selling price isn’t entirely clear, but staged homes do create more buyer interest, which is more likely to result in higher offers than little interest is.

Staging Helps Homes Sell Faster

While there’s some debate on whether or not staging actually ensures higher offers, numerous studies have shown that staging does sell homes faster. And the faster your home sells the sooner you get your money and the less money you’re spending on mortgage and/or utilities payments for the home. One study found that homes staged prior to listing sold 79% faster than those staged sometime after being listed. A well staged home allows buyers to better visualize themselves in the space, and also makes them more likely to overlook small issues because they’re already picturing themselves living there.

Staging has become such an important part of home selling that many real estate brokers are now including staging in their services. Whether they do the staging themselves or hire outside stagers, when you decide to put your home on the market, look for a broker that also provides staging so you don’t have to worry about it yourself. Stagers can use the furniture already there, or may rent furniture to help pad out the space, or furnish the space entirely if it’s a home that’s already been moved out of. Living in a staged home can be a tad inconvenient, and it can be tough emotionally to see the space you love transformed into something else, but remember that it’s being done to help you move to a new space that you’ll grow to love just as much.