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)