Does Home Staging Really Work to Attract Buyers and Add Value?

A common question clients ask us is “Does staging really work?” The short answer is, yes it certainly does.

Think of it this way. A house is a home, and it gets filled with many memories over the years. However, when buyers come through your property, they aren’t interested in sharing your memories. Instead, they want to envision themselves living there. They want it to feel like it could be their home.

When a home is staged to look its best, it evokes that feeling in as many buyers as possible. First, it shows better online and brings more traffic through the door. And once buyers are inside, a staged home drives more offers and a higher price.

Does Staging Really Work?

To illustrate the effects of staging, let’s take the case of a recent client of ours.

Many clients initially don’t believe that they need to stage their home in such a hot market.  Put yourself in the shoes of a potential buyer. Given about the same location and asking price, if House X is clutter-free, clean, updated and nicely decorated, and House Y down the street isn’t any of the three, which house do you think has a better chance of selling? It might come down to a simple gut feeling on the part of the buyers.

Dennis had his condo on the market with another agent for months. Not only had it not sold, they hadn’t even seen one offer. In the same time period, I had sold two units that were identical to his for a higher price than he had his listed for.

The issue with his condo was that buyers didn’t see the units as comparable. The two units I had sold looked like model homes. They caught the attention of buyers online who were wowed when they walked through the door. Even though Dennis’ condo was identical, it wasn’t staged properly, and so it showed poorly. Buyers have a really hard time seeing past that.

We recommended that we complete a few minor repairs, give the unit a proper clean, and most importantly of all, stage it! We were 100% confident that it would sell fast for a high price.

And that’s exactly what happened!

Here’s a peek at what the unit looked like before and after we got our hands on it:

When all the work was done, it just sparkled and showed beautifully online. We generated lots of traffic and had two offers in less than a week.  Plus, we sold the unit for $25,000 more than he had listed it for with the previous agent!

Vacant houses take longer to sell. Many people think that an empty room lets potential buyers see what the room could look like, but empty rooms actually makes the space look smaller. Staging an empty house will buyers to envision how to use the space in the house.

Our Staging Services

We know the value of staging as we’ve seen cases like this over and over again. We also know that people are hesitant to invest in staging when trying to walk away with the most amount of money at the end of the selling process.

I always tell my clients, think about when you first walked into your house, what struck you and convinced you to buy the house? What did you notice? Staged homes stand out from the rest. They typically will sell faster for a higher price than a similar unstaged home in the same area.

That’s why we offer home staging as a completely complimentary service to all of our clients. No matter how large your home is, we’ll take care of it for you.  There’s no need for you to spend potentially thousands of dollars on staging a condo or home.

The steps we take to stage, market, and sell a home are the keys to our success:

• Step 1: First, we talk about the condition of your home. How well maintained is it? Is it super clean, decluttered, and staged to look its absolute best? If all buyers see is pictures of you, or they have to step around your clutter, they’ll have a harder time envisioning themselves living there.
• Step 2: We look at how well your home shows online. Almost all buyers now view homes on their computer or mobile device, and they want to be wowed. A staged home simply stands out better online.
• Step 3: We bring buyers through the door. At this point, the selling part is made much easier. When buyers view your staged home, they can see themselves living there. They’ll form an immediate attachment with the home, driving up the price they’re willing to pay for it.

Janet Thompson, our certified professional in-house stager, is ready to help stage and sell your home. If you’re thinking about selling soon, and want to get the best price and a fast sale, your ThompsonSells team is here to help every step of the way.