The Staging Proposal:
The consultation for occupied homes and the walk-through of vacant homes provide the real estate stager with an overview of what is needed to get the house prepared and ready for a successful sale. As a general rule over the thumb, home staging prices can range from a 0.5% to 3% of the listing price – again, depending on the specific needs of that property as well as the selling price. Real estate agents like can manage the whole process and get the homes looking their best and ready for sale.
Remember in the beginning I said that real estate staging does not cost anything – it helps making money.
Home staging is not a cost, but an investment. The National Association of Realtors indicates that staged homes sell on average for a 6 to 10% higher price – a pretty good deal for an investment of 0.5% to 3%.
Studies and statistics conducted by the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA®) have shown that professionally staged homes sell on average 67% faster than un-staged homes. This means months less of expenses for mortgage, insurance, utilities, maintenance and other carrying costs.
Add to that the reduced time of stress and worries, having to be prepared every day for a potential showing and having your peaceful life back quicker.
Now let’s look at some specific numbers of a real life example of a property that Birgit Anich Staging & Interiors has recently staged. While most houses staged by Birgit Anich Staging & Interiors are in the $750K to $4M price range, there seems to be the impression that “staging is for high end properties only”. Thus we decided to illustrate a lower price example to show how real estate staging helps making money also on lower priced properties. However, the same applies to higher priced homes – the numbers are just getting bigger.
This real example property is located in Norwalk, CT:
| Original Listing Price: | $410,000 |
| Days on Market BEFORE Staging: | 155 |
| Price when Birgit Anich Staging & Interiors was called: | $389,000 |
After reducing the price by $21,000 or 5.12% to $389,000, the price reduction still did not help to sell.
The real estate agent was in a tough spot:
1. Either make another price reduction and have price being the only marketing tool used in selling this property
or
2. Make use of a different marketing tool – packaging the product to appeal to the target buyer group by staging it – the real estate agent decided to advise her client to stage the property
At the first visit to the property Birgit Anich Staging & Interiors immediately knew what needed to be done and the client agreed to most of the proposed investments of their vacant property – we made some home improvements and used the most advanced and successful staging techniques of Target Staging and Lifestyle Merchandising:
| Home Improvement Investments (paint, toilet replacement, lighting replacement, floors refinishing, new ceiling in one room, some repair): | $6,000 |
| Staging Investment (rental of furniture & décor for Living Room, Dining Room, Master Bedroom and Staging Services) | $4,500 |
| Total Investment: | $10,500 …. 2.7% of the listing price |
After completion of staging, the house sold within 2 days at full asking price.
By not using price as the single marketing strategy to sell this property, the real estate agent was able to sell the property without any further price reduction.
This is great! But what would the scenario have been if the property was staged BEFORE putting the house on the market?
· The house would have been 153 days less time on the market = 5.1 months less time of ongoing costs:
| Mortgage: | $1300/month |
| Carrying costs (taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance cost): | $1000/month |
| Total monthly fixed costs saved: | $2300/month |
| Months less on the market if staged before: | 5 months |
| Saved cost because of faster sale: | $2300 * 5 months = $11,500 |
As you can see, staging did not cost them anything.
Remember, we spoke about that staged homes sell on an average at a 6-10% higher price. If the house were staged before putting it on the market, it is likely that the house would have sold at the original price of $410,000 (or closer to it), which is an additional $21,000
Total Return on Investment, if staged BEFORE listing, would have been:
| Saved cost because of faster sale: | $11,500 |
| Sale at top price: | $21,000 |
| Total gain: | $32,500 |
| Staging Investment: | ($10,500) |
| Profit Made from Staging: | $22,000 |
| Return on Investment: | 209% |
This real life example shows how staging helps to MAKE money – it does not cost anything.
After reading this, what does cost more – to stage or not to stage? I hope you have come to the conclusion that it only costs NOT to stage. Not to stage costs money, time, and energy.
We realize that a full staging might not be for everyone, as this is an upfront out of pocket expense and many people might not be in the financial position for various reasons to make such investment. I recommend though to at least invest in a home staging consultation from a qualified Home Staging Professional. You will be surprised what a difference this powerful information will make in your home sale, if you implement it.
By staging BEFORE listing the Home Sellers can move on with their normal lives faster and with more money in their pockets.
When selling properties faster and closer to the Home Seller’s price expectations, Real Estate Agents will receive more referrals and can quicker devote their energy and time to their next listing.
