This is a question I get from most homeowners that are considering the sale of their home or investment property. For homeowners that have a nicely furnished home the Staging is typically not required. It is a proven fact that a properly furnished home will sell faster and for a higher price than a vacant home and or one that has furnishings that are old, tired and or do not fit the space well. 

There are some cases when a vacant or older home probably does not require staging. Those being homes that are sold for Land value and there is a high probability that the property will be sold as a Building lot. 

I also had an instance recently where a homeowner had a beautifully built new home but there were key rooms that had no furniture. We suggested the client call in the Staging Co and for about $5000 have the vacant rooms furnished to help for the sale. Remember, its really tough to take appealing photos of vacant rooms. This client decided not to spend the $5000 and instead spend about $25,000 buying furniture for the vacant rooms. It’s really a personal decision. The advantage with Staging is the convenience and speed to which the home can be furnished for sale. We can usually arrange to have a home staged within 1 week of the client making the initial call to the Staging Co. Should you decide to go out and purchase the furniture and accessories yourself this can take a lot of time and rarely do stores keep furniture in stock. You can typically wait weeks or months for specific furnishings to arrive once they are ordered. This is not ideal when you want your home listed within a few weeks.

Part of our service when listing your home for sale is to provide such advice on Staging . The key is to bring your home to the market so that it attracts the maximum number of buyers and ultimately achieving the highest price. A poorly furnished home can cost you a lot more than the cost of staging. Most buyers do not have the ability to visualize so we as realtors want to make sure your home shows the best it can. 

Happy Selling! 

(Photo: flickr.com/buildersdesign)

VANCOUVER, B.C. – September 3, 2014 – The Metro Vancouver housing market experienced steady home sale, listing, and pricing trends for the month of August.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver reached 2,771 on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in August 2014. This represents a 10.2 percent increase compared to the 2,514 sales recorded in August 2013, and a 9.5 percent decline compared to the 3,061 sales in July2014.

“Activity this summer has been strong but not unusual for our region,” Ray Harris, REBGV president said. “The volume of home sales has been higher than we’ve seen in the last three years, yet below the record-breaking levels of the past decade.”

Last month’s sales were 4.3 percent above the 10-year sales average for August of 2,658.

The MLS® Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver* is currently $631,600. This represents a 5 percent increase compared to August 2013.

“Broadly speaking, home prices in the region are continuing to experience modest, incremental gains,” Harris said.

New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Metro Vancouver totalled 3,940 in August. This represents a 5.9 percent decline compared to the 4,186 new listings in August 2013 and a 20 percent decline from the 4,925 new listings in July. Last month’s new listing total was 8.4 percent below the region’s 10-year new listing average for the month.

The total number of properties currently listed for sale on the MLS® system in Metro Vancouver is 14,768, a 7.9 percent decline compared to August 2013 and a 5.4 percent decrease compared to July 2014.

Sales of detached properties in August 2014 reached 1,158, an increase of 10.1 percent from the 1,052 detached sales recorded in August 2013, and an 85.6 percent increase from the 624 units sold in August 2012. The benchmark price for detached properties increased 6.6 percent from August 2013 to $984,300.

Sales of apartment properties reached 1,126 in August 2014, an increase of 10.6 percent compared to the 1,018 sales in August 2013, and a 55.3 percent increase compared to the 725 sales in August 2012. The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 3.6 percent from August 2013 to $379,200.

Attached property sales in August 2014 totalled 487, a 9.7 percent increase compared to the 444 sales in August 2013, and a 62.3 percent increase over the 300 attached properties sold in August 2012. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 3.9 percent between August 2013 and 2014 to $474,900.

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