Stage or Not to Stage
To Stage or not to Stage that is the question often asked.
Some agents strongly push for staging, but the truth is, staging is not the most critical tool or priority
So should you stage your home or leave it vacant. The answer is: It depends.
Both staging or leaving a home empty have advantage and disadvantages
Staging vs un-staged
Should you stage your home, or sell it un-staged? Like so many real estate questions, the answer is, “It depends.”
There is not necessarily a clear answer here, as there are definite advantages and disadvantages that come with each option. Ultimately to stage or not to stage, will be based on your own preferences. As a real estate agent, I will help you weigh the advantages and disadvantages, with your situation, and go from there.
Before you can even make a decision, it will be helpful to know what a staged home is:
If you have ever walked through an open house or a home for sale and seen a perfectly designed interior, with everything placed just so, you most likely witnessed a staged home. A real giveaway is when you pick up something, a decoration, for instance, and discover that it is not real – like books with no words in them, a TV or computer monitor that is just a box, or a bed that is only an air mattress.
A staged home is one that is filled with things to make it more appealing to potential buyers. There are professionals who specialize in staging homes for sale. They may bring in furniture, appliances, paintings, curtains—everything needed to create a particular look. Once they are finished, the home appears to be lived in. Many sellers feel this look is preferable to a big empty house.
For some buyers they prefer to see staging in order to help them conceptualize how they will plan out their own furniture. For the average homeowner, professional staging more often than not, not necessary. Definitely, If you live in a gorgeous home to start with, staging will make a negligible difference.
I believe it is much more important that your home is properly prepared for the sale rather than it be staged for sale. All effort should be made to have the home ready for sale and it looking it’s best before the “for sale” sign hits the lawn.
Advantages of Selling a Staged Home
- A staged home may be easier for some buyers because you can set the stage for what buyers see. Buyers walk in and see the comfortable furniture, pretty decorations, and general hominess, and feel like they could sit down and relax in the home. The more they can see themselves in the house, the more likely they are to buy it.
- Another benefit of staging is that it can make listing pictures look more appealing. The listing photos you use are usually the first glimpse potential buyers get of your home, so you want to make sure they look as great as they can. One of the most important things you can do as a seller is make sure the photos of your house are professional. They sell your home more than anything else, which is why I always use professional photographers who specialize in taking home pictures.
While you may not have enough money for a full-fledged professional staging, there are always things you can do on your own to make your house more attractive to buyers, which I go over with my clients. Simple things like placing chairs, removing clutter, or just changing location of some items.
Disadvantages of a Staged Home
The two major disadvantages of staging a home are time and money.
A staged home takes time to get right. It may take days for the home stager to bring in everything necessary to stage the home, and still more time to organize it correctly. Staging a home also costs money. Depending on what is involved, it can easily cost several thousand dollars to stage a large home.
Do you want to be paying thousands of dollars a month to have your home staged? Is it necessary? Could that money be put elsewhere that would have a much more significant impact?
These are the kind of questions I go over with all my clients all the time.
Finally, one item regarding staging that I have not read about, but have seen occur many times. After an offer has been accepted on the home, the seller removes the staging, then for some reason sale falls through. Now the home is back on the market without staging, and the seller has obtained no advantage for all the previous cost for the staging.
Advantages of Selling without staging
Advantages of Selling an Empty House is often times the same as selling a staged home. Some buyers will approach a vacant home and find it easier to see themselves living in the home when it is empty.
Remember a staged home is generally designed to appeal the most substantial number of buyers, which can mean it comes across as either too generic or too specific to a specific subset of people.
Some people will just be turned off by staging, especially if it is not well done and subtle enough. If it is too apparent, the buyers may feel put off and annoyed.
Disadvantages of Selling without Staging
An empty home can often come across as cold and unwelcoming. Since you want to create a warm and welcoming feeling, a vacant home can work against you. Defects tend to be obvious in an empty home from scratched or marred pain on the wall, to the stains on the carpet or the kitchen counter. A lot of the little things can be hidden or distracted from when you have a house full of furniture.
Without anything to cover them up or draw attention away from them, you are left with all the little dings and things that buyers may take issue with.
The last disadvantage is that by listing the home in its empty state, an impression could arise that the seller needs to make a sale.
For more information about staging or not staging a come, click on the link below to send me a email, or call me at 425 985 5124
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