You only have one chance to make a great first impression. Buyers typically only take about 30 seconds to make a decision on how they feel about your property. You want to make sure you're showing your home in its best possible state, and appealing to a wide variety of homebuyer personalities.
Before actually listing your home, you may have to do a few projects. You WILL have to spend some money if you want to get a return on your investment. Where does home staging fit in? Is it really worth the additional expense?
The answer is yes.
According to the National Association of Realtors 2019 Home Staging Study, staging is a necessary part of the marketing process for listing a property for sale. The study shows that from a buyers' agent perspective:
• 40% of buyers’ agents cited that home staging had an effect on most buyers’ view of the home.
• 83% of buyers’ agents said staging a home made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as a future home.
• 25% of buyer's agents said that staging a home increased the dollar value offered between 1-5% percent, compared to other similar homes on the market that were not staged.
From a sellers' agent perspective:
• 26% of sellers' agents personally offered to stage the home.
• 22% of sellers’ agents reported an increase of 1-5% percent of the dollar value offered by buyers, in comparison to similar homes. 17% of respondents stated that staging a home increased the dollar value of the home between 6 - 10%.
• 28% of sellers’ agents stated that there were slight decreases in the time on the market when the home is staged.
• The most common home improvement items agents recommended to sellers were decluttering the home (95%), entire home cleaning (89%), removing pets during showings (83%), and carpet cleaning (78%).
According to this study, if a staged property is selling for 5% above the asking price, this would mean that a $300,000 property is raking in an additional $15,000! Having a professional stager will allow you to appeal to the widest range of a potential buyers' taste and will help you to sell your property faster, and for more money.