If you are selling your home, you want to help buyers imagine themselves living there. Home staging is one of the best ways to do this, helping to make your place stand out in online searches, shine at open houses, and get competitive deals faster.

How much does Home Staging cost?

According to data from HomeAdvisor, home sellers typically pay between $ 590 and $ 2,210 in enhancement fees, but the price can vary widely. For example, renting furniture for an extended period can cost up to $ 6,000.

Typically, a home stager charges for an initial two-hour consultation, which can cost anywhere from $ 150 to $ 600, according to HomeAdvisor. The size of your home and the scope of the project play a major role in determining the rest of your home staging costs. If your home is in good shape and your furnishings are attractive, you may only have to pay to rearrange the furniture layout and declutter your home – a service that averages a fixed total of $ 800.

Suppose you have an empty three bedroom house and the home stager recommends renting furniture for each bedroom and living room. According to HomeAdvisor data, the service charge alone can be anywhere from $ 800 to $ 1,000. Then you will have to pay a staging fee, which is between $ 400 and $ 700 per room. You’ll also need furniture to bring these rooms to life, which can cost anywhere from $ 500-600 per room per month for all those beds, a sofa, tables, and other design touches.

According to Pam Tiberia, owner and designer of Spruce Interiors in Hampton, New Hampshire, the cost of staging a home for two to three months is typically 0.75% of a home’s list price. So if your house is listed for $ 320,000, the cost of staging it for a few months would be $ 2,400.

For higher end homes, however, the cost can be higher.

“Typically, luxury homes represent between 1% and 1.25% of the list price for the staging,” says Tiberia. “These costs include labor, furniture rental, movers, and an insurance policy to protect inventory.”

Virtual staging is a cheaper option, with some companies rendering theaters as affordable as $ 35 a piece, says Tiberia, who typically combines busy and vacant staging. For buyers who browse online, these virtual staging efforts can entice them to see the property in person.

How home staging works

Eighty-two percent of buying agents report that home staging makes it easier for buyers to visualize a property as their future home, according to the National Association of Realtors 2021 Profile of Home Staging. Home staging offers a new perspective on your home, and each screenwriter offers their point of view and different services. Some offer services like shopping and incorporating recommended items like a new shower curtain, decorative pillows, and updated bedding.

“Many directors also rent this type of props and come to decorate the house before the photos and the open days”, explains Tiberia.

Some other services that a home stager might offer include:

• Discuss the best way to furnish a space and recommend what furniture needs to be removed or added, as well as accessories, art and style.
• Highlight any notable repairs or maintenance issues.
• Recommend the best spaces in the house to stage, especially in vacant settings. Not all rooms usually need to be staged.
• Advise homeowners on how to define ambiguous spaces and how to stage them. Some homes with extra rooms or awesome floor plans can be solved with creative staging and furniture placement.
• Talk about removing or modifying window treatments to brighten up a space.

With virtual staging services, on the other hand, most businesses use photo editing software to give a conceptual view of what a room or the entire property might look like. Some of the editing techniques in virtual staging include:

• Color and paint floor changes
• Remove existing furniture from a photo and add digital images of new furniture, artwork, plants and more
• Editing visual views from windows

Is home staging worth it?

Several studies have shown that home staging can be a profitable investment.

According to 2020 data from the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA), 85% of staged homes got offers between 5% and 23% above the list price, and investing 1% of the home’s value. in staging, 75% of salespeople saw a return of between 5% and 15%.

Likewise, 23 percent of buyers’ agents in the NAR report indicated that the staging helped increase bid amounts by 1 to 5 percent.

The adage of time is money also applies here: According to HomeAdvisor, featured homes spend between 33% and 50% less time on the market.

“In either market, that of a buyer or a seller, the better the presentation of a house, the more perceived value it has, which generally makes it faster and more profitable”, says Tiberia. “The staging addresses many of the objections of potential buyers, such as overly specific wall colors, delicate floor plans, or worn or outdated finishes.”

If you’re unsure if staging makes sense for your home, ask your real estate agent for feedback on your property and current market conditions in your neighborhood. Your agent should fully understand what your home will look like in the eyes of potential buyers and know if you should spend on the staging.

Tips for staging a house for sale

While home staging is often well worth the cost, it is always an expense. Here are some smart strategies for saving money:

• Get the ideas without paying as much as you need. Many times, house sellers stop by the consultation with a director just to get ideas, and then do some of the directing themselves, Tiberia explains. This could be an option for you if you are looking to save a lot.
• Choose your rooms. See if you can negotiate with the director to cut costs by having only certain rooms.
• Ask about the minimums. If you need to rent furniture, you may need to negotiate the time you need to pay. Some designers have a minimum of three months to rent furniture. If your house hits the market in five days, you don’t want to be charged with unnecessary rental charges.
• Consider only the virtual. Virtual staging costs about 10% of what a physical staging will perform for you, according to Barion Design, a New York-based virtual company.
• Clean. Declutter and clean your home to make sure buyers can actually see what they’re potentially buying. Pack, mop and spotlessly clean every surface to make it shine for touring. If you need to keep some items, you can rent a storage unit (although this can help with the costs) or have a friend or relative store it in their basement or garage until you are ready. were moving. Otherwise, you can donate or sell items.
• Do the paint job yourself. Painting interior walls yourself (hiring a painter costs an average of $ 1,750, according to HomeAdvisor) with a white or off-white color can make a big difference. You may also want to hire a professional window cleaning company to help you showcase the natural light in your home.
• Let’s light up some more. Updating lighting and fixtures can improve rooms and make them more open, notes Tiberia. You can also add decor such as mirrors or floor and table lamps.
• Move furniture away from walls. This can communicate to buyers the ideal flow in each room, helping them imagine how they can maximize the space.

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