Home Staging Can Help Sell Home for More, Realtors® Say

To stage or not to stage? 2015 Profile of Home Staging. Thirty-two percent of buyers’ agents believe staged homes increases the dollar value buyers are willing to offer by one percent to five percent.

Palm Coast, FL – January 30,2015 – Most homeowners know it is important to keep a home clean, bright and free from clutter while it is on the market for sale. But sometimes, Realtors® say, taking the extra step to stage a home can make a difference in how a buyer values it and the price a seller might get for it, according to the National Association of Realtors® 2015 Profile of Home Staging (see below).

“Realtors® know how important it is to have a home in the best shape possible when showing it to prospective buyers,” said NAR President Chris Polychron, executive broker with 1st Choice Realty in Hot Springs, Arkansas. “At a minimum, homeowners should conduct a thorough cleaning, haul out clutter, make sure the home is well-lit and fix any major aesthetic issues. Another option is staging a home, which Realtors® often suggest to sellers to help prospective buyers better visualize themselves in the home and could modestly increase the home’s value for both the buyer and seller.”

The report, the first of its kind from NAR, found that 49 percent of surveyed Realtors® who work with buyers believe staging usually has an effect on the buyer’s view of the home. Another 47 percent believe that staging only sometimes has an impact on a buyer’s view of the home only. Only 4 percent of Realtors® said staging has no impact on buyer perceptions.

Realtors® on the buyer side believe that staging makes an impact in several ways; 81 percent said staging helps buyers visualize the property as a future home, while 46 percent said it makes prospective buyers more willing to walk through a home they saw online. Forty-five percent said a home decorated to a buyer’s tastes positively impacts its value; however, 10 percent of Realtors® said a home decorated against a buyer’s tastes could negatively impact the home’s value.

From the seller side, a majority of Realtors® utilize staging as a tool in at least some instances. Just over a third of Realtors® (34 percent) utilize staging on all homes, while 13 percent tend to stage only those homes difficult to sell, and another 4 percent will do so only for higher priced homes. The median cost spent on staging a home is $675. Sixty-two percent of Realtors® representing sellers say they offer home staging service to sellers, while 39 percent say the seller pays before listing the home.

Realtors® representing both the buyer and seller agreed on two major points in the report—which rooms should be staged and the change in dollar value a buyer is willing to offer for a staged home compared to a similar not-staged home. Realtors® ranked the living room as the number one room to stage, followed by a kitchen. Rounding out the top five rooms were the master bedroom, dining room and the bathroom.

Realtors® believe that buyers most often offer a 1 to 5 percent increase on the value of a staged home (37 percent from Realtors® representing sellers and 32 percent from Realtors® representing buyers). Additionally, 22 percent of Realtors® representing sellers and 16 percent of Realtors® representing buyers said the increase is closer to 6 to 10 percent.

 “Working with a Realtor® gives buyers, sellers and investors the advantage they need to succeed in today’s market, as they know what buyers want and how to best market and stage a home for sale,” Polychron said. “While many factors play into what a home is worth and what buyers are willing to pay for it, staging is an excellent tool that can be used to give a home a little extra push for sellers. Staging isn’t used by every Realtor® in every situation, but the impact it may have and the value it can bring is clear to both home buyers and sellers.”

2015 Profile of Home Staging

2 replies
  1. Jeff Sawyer
    Jeff Sawyer says:

    Staging Does Work

    Great article! I am totally convinced that staging your home really helps in at least two ways: 1. Your home will faster and 2. You home will sell for more money. This is based on personal experiences selling homes and not based on scientific data. I wrote an article on it as well: http://www.palmcoast.co/staging It take little to no money to give yourself a huge advantage to set your home apart from the competition.

  2. George Edward Chuddy
    George Edward Chuddy says:

    Levitt I.T.T. Staging

    When the Gargantuan Levitt I.T.T. ‘ The Palm Coast Project ‘ opened there were nine Models. Each Model was staged and used a ‘Theme’. For my Levitt I.T.T. ‘ Santa Rosa ‘ Model the staging / theme was ‘ African Safari ‘. The Levitt I.T.T. ‘ Andulasia ‘ Model was staged and themed with ‘Arabian Nights’. It had white carpeting with blue / brass accents. The white carpeting extended down through the ‘ Martini Pit ‘ a sunken feature for people to sit and socialize.
    It is really neat and I am Steward of a picture of it and I will have it framed for you to see! You can imagine Dean Martin and the rat pack drinking and socializing in the ‘ Martini Pit ‘.
    Early on there were no banks in Palm Coast. The Levitt building reputation attracted thousands or prospective buyers and sales were very brisk; since there were no banks the executives walked around with suitcases filled with money !
    They were not shy about it; perhaps this was a part of the business acumen – that is to show SALES were fast !
    There were so many wonderful and marvelous Amenities and features offered to us; so grand were they that 38,000 homesites were sold in just a few years. A prospective buyer could buy ‘ on time ‘. This way they could plan the time line of their specific needs.
    It truly was a grand experience with many Hollywood Celebrities always around Palm Coast because of the ITT connection.
    An ‘Official Guided Tour’ was required for all prospective buyers. Some early purchasers became impatient that the Amenities were not offered and built fast enough. Consequently, these persons put BIG Yellow Lemons on their houses. Levitt I.T.T. did not know about it early on and the massive amounts of tour busses and vans filled with prospective buyers followed the ‘ Tour ‘ in / around Casper Drive, Cooper Lane, Cerrudo Lane, Collins Land and Clark Lane. The prospective buyers would see the HUGE Yellow Lemons on our houses in the first Showcase Neighborhood. In about two days Levitt I.T.T. must have found out that SALE$$$ were slowing, the reason why, so Levitt I.T.T. re-routed the required ‘ Official Guided Tour’ to bypass the Houses with Yellow Lemons on them. Anyway, that shows how simple Yellow Lemons stopped the largest conglomerate for a couple of days. I am Steward of one of the Yellow Lemons; it is neat to see now and again; I’ll frame that too so you can see what stopped Levitt I.T.T. !

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