Home Staging Costs

The Cost of home staging is a hot topic in the real estate community. Some Realtors® don’t blink and understand the value of the service, other Realtors® think Staging® fees are too high.  The value of home staging is determined by how quickly the house sells and the satisfaction the buyer perceives for the service (as is the case in just about any transaction in life). Staged houses sell more quickly (50%-80% less time on market) and for more money (average 7 %) than un-staged homes.

Let me start with this: there is no set price for home staging services. The size of the home, the location of the home, the condition of the home, the staging professional chosen, the scope of the project, the condition of the housing market in that area/community and other factors will all contribute to the price tag.

It can be a complicated equation! 

And the ROI for a home professionally staged is huge: below are some of our real life examples: 

1. A Staging investment of $5,000 yields $14,000 higher list price! 
2. A $650 Staging investment had a house sold in 32 days at list!
3. A $1,200 Staging investment had a house sold FOR CASH in ONE day!
4. A $24,000 Staging investment resulted in a $70,000 higher list price -- and this house actually had competing bids and went under contract $91,000 higher than where it was going to originally list prior to the Staging overhaul.

Many of the variables that must be taken into consideration to calculate the cost of home staging include:

• The Consultation fee charged by the Stager.

• The Design fee charged by the Stager if hired to do the staging.

• The cost of Staging assistants.

• The cost of items that are either rented or purchased to Stage the property.

• The cost of transporting, delivering heavy furniture. This is multiplied by 2 because the items have to be removed and returned to storage when the house sells.

• The cost of labor for moving the furniture. This is multiplied by 2 because the furniture must be removed when the house sells.

• The cost of labor for projects to be handled by contractors.

• Monthly rentals for furnishings and accessories until the house is sold.

And there are always standard costs of running a business involved that must be factored into any quote.

Some of these costs can be deferred if the homeowner is willing and able to invest some sweat equity, which is why I prefer to start with a Staging Consultation on all occupied properties.

www.ballantynehomestaging.com | 980.322.5825 | carol@ballantynehomestaging.com

We want to see THAT house. The importance of online pictures.

How many home buyers start their home search on the Internet?

 

 

I’ve seen statistics ranging from 82% to more than 90%. So just for fun, I conducted my own non-scientific survey of those looking at houses and asked them:

 

1. “What are you looking for while viewing all the different homes for sale online photos?

 

2. “What makes you stop and spend more time looking at a particular house online?”

Here are the most common/similar replies:

• Empty rooms don’t show me anything (except what color the walls are painted.)
• If the house looked like a mess, we skipped it.
• If the pictures were too dark, I skipped right over them.
• If the pictures were hazy or blurred, I skipped past them.
• It’s hard for me to see how large the rooms are when they’re empty.
• I can’t tell if our furniture will fit or not.
• If the furniture is worn & out of date, it makes me think the house is worn and out of date, too.
• Houses that look nice and clean go to the top of our list.
• Houses that look nice on the outside and inside catch our attention because they seem to be well maintained.
• Nicely decorated houses are attractive, plus we can see how big the rooms are more so than when looking at empty rooms.

None of the answers surprise me, but does make me continue to wonder why so many home sellers do not seek the assistance of a professional Home Stager prior to listing their houses. Home Staging makes such a huge impact and should be done prior to any photographs being taken.

Professionally Staged Home + Professional Photography + Properly Priced Listing = SOLD.

www.ballantynehomestaging.com | 980.322.5825 | carol@ballantynehomestaging.com