I recently read an article by REALTOR Mag on “The True Impact of Home Staging,” and I thought a recap of the article would be great for this week’s Real Estate Tip of the Week. So here is why staging your home for sale could dramatically effect how quickly it sells and how much it sells for.
In the article, it starts off by saying that 62% of listing agents say professional staging decreases the amount of time a home spends on the market while 40% of buyer agents say their clients are more willing to visit a home for sale that has been staged. In my opinion, I believe those numbers are even greater in the DMV area. Young first-time homebuyers are used to seeing spectacular pictures of homes on HGTV, the internet or on social media and get more excited when they walk into a room that has been nicely staged. It is sometimes very hard for buyers to envision the layout of an empty space or if their furniture will even work in a room. Staging creates a sense of hominess that excites buyers about living in the space. Buying a house is 100% an emotional decision as much as a financial one so the more that you can create a sense of home, the more a buyer is going to want to live there and more importantly, the more that they will be willing to pay for it.
Continuing on that topic of how much a buyer will pay for a home, the article mentions that 31% of the NAR’s survey respondents say staging increased their home sold price by 1- 5% while 13% say it increased the sold price by 6-10%! Professional staging in this area costs around $3,000 depending on the size of the home. Since the average home in Arlington is over $600,000, an increase of just 1% practically doubles your initial investment.
So if you are planning on selling your home, I would highly recommend considering the option of getting it professionally staged. While it costs money upfront, it is well worth the investment and will most likely save you stress and money in the end. Since almost every buyer now begins their search online, quality pictures of a home drastically effects whether a buyer decides to see a home or not. Thus, if the home has professional staging, it greatly increases the appeal of the home which results in buyers wanting to see it. The more buyers that see it, usually results in a home sale. The most important part of a home to stage is the living room followed by the master bedroom, kitchen, and outdoor space. For a free home consultation or to learn how to most effectively sell your home, give me a call at 703-350-8800 or email at blake.davenport@longandfoster.com.
To read the full article that this post references, click here.
*Picture taken from @homepolish Instagram Account