3 Benefits of Staging a Home for Sale

Selling a home inevitably brings some stress and anxiety to the sellers. It’s normal to ponder and worry about all kinds of things. How long will it take? Will we get a good offer? Fortunately, the benefits of staging a home for sale can bring a lot of peace to the sale process.

No matter what your needs are for buying or selling a home in the Portland, OR area, Julia Monaghan Real Estate can help. Our experience brings you the education and advocacy you deserve. Give us a call, and let’s see how we can work together. 

How Does Staging Homes Work?

Although it feels as if the idea of home staging just came about in recent years, it’s been around since the early 1970s. A Seattle real estate agent, Barb Schwarz, appears to have been the first home stager. 

With a background in theater, Schwarz decided to try setting the stage, so to speak, when she listed a home for sale. This new way of presenting a house introduced the concept of home staging. It aims to help prospective buyers envision life in that home so that they are more likely to place an offer.

There are several ways that staging homes for sale can work. Depending on your budget and time-frame, you can consider some of the following options:

• DIY Home Staging – Some sellers choose to do their own work to stage their house for sale. They may do a significant decluttering and rearrange the furniture. Your real estate agent can likely advise you on some top tips for getting your home ready to show.
• Professional Home Staging – Sellers who do not have the time or interest in staging a house themselves may choose to hire a professional home stager. It makes sense that this is the more expensive option, but many sellers are eager to have this job done for them. 

Staging a home is a practice that works to highlight the home’s best features while downplaying less-than-ideal components. It makes excellent use of the space and invites prospective buyers to imagine themselves living there. Staging for a house is similar to branding for a business. It’s strategic and intentional.

Many professional stagers work with your existing furniture and decor. They rearrange and reconfigure items that are already in your home to show off the space the best way possible.

Others bring in all of their own pieces to set the scene. This method is often the case when a house is empty while on the market. 

Benefits of Staging a Home When It’s Empty

Keeping a home “just right” while you still live in it can be tricky. But if the house is unoccupied, staging is an ideal way to boost its marketability. Whether you choose to do it on your own or hire a professional, you are likely to see excellent results from staging an empty house.

Empty homes take longer to sell than do occupied or staged houses. Many sellers think that an empty house gives buyers a feeling of spaciousness. 

It turns out, though, that the opposite is true. Our eyes need objects in the room to assess size and scale accurately. Without this context, we see spaces as smaller than they are.

And an empty house doesn’t provide the crucial factor: buyers need to envision themselves living there. Without some furniture arrangements or artwork, people can’t visualize what it would be like to live in the home.

Here are three ways that home staging benefits sellers.

1. Staging Brings Potential Buyers to the House

Even before the COVID-19 crisis, house hunters started their search online about 44% of the time. And now, with physical distancing precautions in place, it is almost always the first step for those looking for a new house. Making an excellent first impression is critical.

Since people are looking at photos online first, your home must stand out from the crowd. And the truth is, pictures of empty rooms are not appealing. They do not entice buyers to make an appointment to see the house.

If your home’s online presence doesn’t draw potential buyers to a physical showing, you will likely have to drop your asking price to compete with other listings. So it makes sense to invest some time, money, or both in staging the house for sale.

If you can manage in your new house for a while without all of your furniture, you can use what you have to set an inviting scene. Even staging a few key spaces, such as the living room and master bedroom, can have a big impact. Your kitchen is another great space to spruce up for viewings.

Staged rooms in online photos will encourage buyers to see the house in person. And the majority of buyer’s agents indicate that home staging makes it easier for clients to visualize the home as theirs. This is precisely what you want. 

2. Staging Helps You Sell Faster

One of a seller’s top priorities is selling their house quickly. Whether your home is occupied or empty, staging generally leads to a quicker sale. 

In some areas, such as in Oregon, staging can help houses sell about seven times faster. This speed factor is significant for sellers, especially if they have already purchased a new home. The quicker you sell, the sooner you are finished with one mortgage payment.

For a cost-effective alternative to physical staging, many sellers are turning to virtual staging. This process can be a great option for unoccupied homes. Virtual stagers create photos of your home that look as if the rooms have furniture in them. 

These photos help draw buyers into visiting the house in person. Your real estate agent will likely have flyers in the home with the staged pictures to remind visitors of how it looked. Although not quite as effective as physical staging, this virtual option certainly has benefits.

3. Staging Helps Bring Higher Offers

A well-staged home not only moves off the market quickly but also commands a higher sale price. Agents routinely see offers of 5-10% more for staged homes than those that are left as-is. 

Estimates indicate that for every $100 spent on home staging, sellers receive about $400 in return. That is an excellent return on investment and should be taken seriously. Every seller is hoping to get the maximum price possible from their home. So higher offers are one of the best home staging perks.

We Represent You with a Winning Strategy

At Julia Monaghan Real Estate, we love to dig into the research and numbers for our clients.

We work strategically to give you the best selling or buying experience possible. 

And with a trusted list of referral partners, we can connect you to an expert who will make the process move smoothly. Reach out and let’s chat. We can’t wait to be on your team!