Does anyone use homestagers to stage houses after being remodeled? If so, is the price for a homestaging company worth it?
Stagers always say it sells faster and that the ROI is very good, of course they are selling a service so you never know. I’d have to think they are right, the cost isn’t that high and it supposedly it sells the home faster so I think it would work. I’ve seen homes staged that were very nice and definitely made people see what the home could be with good decorating.
As a Realtor, I can tell you that “home-staging” does help sell homes. There aren’t really any stagers in my area (business opportunity), but even halfway decent furniture in a home will help it sell faster. The problem with unfurnished homes is that most buyers need to SEE where they would put their own furniture. For instance you might just assume that a bedroom is too small, until you see it furnished.
Good Luck!
Staging does help sell homes faster, and many say, for more money. Hiring a professional stager is great if you’ve got the cash to spare, but not really necessary if you’ve got even a little designer in you.
Get an idea of what staging is (and isn’t). Visit model home open houses. Most should be staged. Visit the modular builders. All their model homes are staged. Last visit your local doublewide dealer as all their homes are staged as well. Get an idea of what you like. Take pictures.
Staging on the cheap. If you’re planning on rehabbing more properties, it pays to stock up furniture, if you have room to store. Check the local papers and weekly yard sales for sofas, chairs, etc. in good condition. Color isn’t as important as you can always use slips to match.
Make ‘beds’ by stacking some cinder blocks and using an old boxspring and a headboard and a good bedspread.
You can buy some cheap, but good looking end tables, or if you’re handy with wood, you can make some fake ones by using plywood and fake drawer fronts that will be alot lighter to carry from place to place.
Remember staging doesn’t have to have a full room decorated. Just a little here and there is enough to give the potential buyer an idea of how to setup the room, and that’s the idea.
Raj
How many of you here have bought a house that was staged?
As an investor, it’s very doubtful that we’ll be looking at homes that are in the staging ready phase, Blue.
That said, I bought my last personal residence that was staged both inside and out. When we pulled up to it, my wife and kids went on and on about how beautiful the house was and how perfect everything was, etc, etc. Want to guess how much price negotiating got done on that house?
Raj
That is what I mean. Staging is a technique used at the retail level. I have never bought a house that was staged and I have bought 4 of them. I was wondering what effect it has on the buyer. Like your comment.
I don’t see how (especially in a buyers market) it wouldn’t be helpful for the rehab to retail crowd…maybe it wouldn’t be as effective for you seeing that you rehab to rent.
Actually, even staged rental homes usually rent faster and for more money than non-staged homes. Of course, this will depend on the level of tenants/property that you’re renting. I doubt that it would make much difference in a war zone, for instance.
I spoke to one major player landlord that actually has a contract with a rent2own company that stages his properties for him. In many cases, the renter will chose to keep all/most of the stuff in the unit for an additional increase in rent (which, you may will quess is more than the cost of the furniture to the landlord).
Food for thought.
Raj
Staging really helps if you have something odd about your property, like a strange layout or funny shaped room.
Staging can show people how to use the space, where they might not be able to see it empty.
Retail home buyers are not like investors - they have no imagination. You can look at a property and see potential oozing out all over, but the buyer would say “Can I fit my couch in here?” in a gigantic room.
I think an empty house makes the rooms look bigger so you can sell it better. I have no data but I bet I could sell an empty house for more money that you can sell your staged house. I had one house that didn’t have a dining room that a lady that I was showing a house to wanted. I told the lady that she could use the back of the living room for a dining room. She bought that argument. I had no idea if she could get a dining room in there along with the living room stuff, but she fell for it. If the rooms had furniture in them she would have been able to see the scale and decide if she could use it as a dining room or not. But because of my silver tongued sales pitch she bought the house.
Nothing like trying to trick the buyers. :rolleyes
I think an empty house makes the rooms look bigger so you can sell it better. I have no data but I bet I could sell an empty house for more money that you can sell your staged house.
Blue, I’d just love to figure out a way to actually take you up on that bet.
As for “more money” you’d not only have to figure out the end price of the home, but also the amount of time that it stays on the market.
Maybe you don’t fully understand the concept of staging. Staging isn’t just having a bunch of furniture in the room. Quite the contary, in fact. Staging is having the RIGHT furniture in the room in a minimum approach. Less is more theory. Have you watched any of those TV shows on the subject, like Sell This House, for example? The one thing that they do is take furniture OUT.
You say that you sold your prop because you ‘convinced’ the seller that you could put a dining/living combo room together. I wonder, how many potential buyers DIDN’T buy because it didn’t have a dining room that they knew of? What if you’d put a small sofa and chair and a round dining table in that room (along with the proper decor to follow) to show that the property had the room necessary to make a cozy living and dining area?
Got to learn to open your mind up to different ideas. Out side of the box thinking, remember?
Raj
I thought I would chime in here since I am about to use a professional stager for the very first time.
First, I’ll take the side of the bet on the staged house opposed to the vacant house. If vacant houses sold better, then that is what builders would do. They don’t. For me, the argument begins and ends there.
Staging is important for two reasons. One, as has been stated, it shows people where to put their stuff. People sometimes need to see where things go…most people lack vision. (If they had vision, then fixer-uppers would sell better.) They need to visualize themselves living in the house. Also, the things in staged homes are sometimes nicer than most people have in their own homes, more so at lower-priced houses. There is usually a big difference between an average person’s house and one that has been professionally decorated.
The second reason I think staging is important, particularly in a rehab, is that the furniture and accessories give buyers’ eyes something to look at other than all of the little inherent defects in any rehabbed home. When you have so many other nice things to look at, you’re not going to notice this nick or that scratch or that spot, etc.
The cost for staging was $850 for the stager’s service, $300 a month for the furniture (all rooms), and $200 a month for the stager’s accessories. In the future, I will probably handle the accessories myself as they probably won’t cost more than the $600 I will spend renting them (three-month minimum). For three months, my total is about $2,500 (about 1% of the price of the house).
I will not buy furniture for this purpose because I don’t have room for another house worth of furniture and I’m not paying for storage. Also, each house is going to have a different style and buyer, so I could not have furniture for all of these situations.
Stagers often say, “The cost of staging your home is less than your first price cut.” I think that’s probably true. Also, when you factor in an increased holding cost if you’re borrowing money, even cutting your hold time by a couple months–setting aside the price factor–could make staging pay for itself.
I’ll report back if I feel I have something more to contribute as we get further into the process. Of course, there’s never any way to know for sure if staging made your deal happen.
I staged a house myself once, but I did not go all the way out and put furniture in it. I simply decorated the bathrooms and kitchen, shower curtons, plastic flowers, fruits, and decorations.
This helped make the house look more welcoming and lived in. I cannot say if this helped the house sell faster since I offered 4.5%+$500 commission for buyer agent, but I personally liked it.
I had the towels get stolen, which was not a big deal. When I sold the house however, mom wanted to go see it and she ended up taking all my staging stuff…
The cost of the staging was about $200 and I would spend it on every house from now on. I cannot justify the high cost of professional stagers for an $80k house but I can see how it can help sell a higher end house.