Home Staging Revisted — Does it really help?

After continued interest in my post about home staging back in November 2007 (”Everyone’s Doing It: Home Staging“), I’ve decided to revisit the idea of home staging. No one can deny that a home that looks nice and where buyers get that “I want to live here!” feeling makes the house more desirable to buyers than a home that is dirty with clutter taking over the house. Just think of the last model home you went to (I’m always a sucker for these).

I admit that at first I was skeptical, but now I’ve literally become a cheerleader for the idea and the industry. And now, I see that HGTV is even hopping on the bandwagon with their new reality TV show “The Stagers.” According to the network, “The Stagers goes inside the hectic world of professional home stagers as they rush to transform a problem house into a showroom — often in just a few days. Amid the tantrums and turmoil are tips and touch-up ideas you can put to work in your own home.” The show looks like it’ll feature some arrogant, in-your-face designers, but, you know what? They get the job done and its looks great.

The show hasn’t even started yet and it’s got me hooked. The first episode airs this Sunday (July 27th) and is called “Clutter Buster.” Attention all sellers, you should watch this. My biggest pet peeve is the amount of clutter sellers leave around when trying to showcase their home.

Before & After (per HGTV’s “The Stagers“)

Anyway, I digress (don’t get me talking about my design shows!). Let’s talk facts and figures. According to the Accredited Stagging Professionals (ASP), 94% of ASP staged homes sell on average in one month or less. From 2007, on average, homes that were not staged sold in 165 days while homes that were staged sold in 33 days. What’s more is the return that is said to be realized on the staging investment. ASP posted the results of HomeGain’s 2007 national survey, based on the ten areas of home improvement identified by real estate agents in HomeGain’s original survey in 2003. They are listed from the highest to lowest returns on investment, showing that the home staging investments have the best return for each dollar spent.

(Courtesy homestaging.com)

Now, of course all of these statistics are from home staging organizations. They’ve collected and massaged the data to help them advertise. However, the logic behind their numbers seem credible with the investments. As for time to sell, I’m more skeptical. There’s so many factors that go into selling a home beside how it looks… like, eh-hem, price!

That being said, I think there’s tremendous value in having your home staged to sell. Just peruse the posts on Home Staging Blog. There are tips o’plenty to help you stage yourself or at least get glimpse to the inside world of staging. One post worth taking a look at is “Staging a Home for Sale vs. Staging a Home for Life Part V-How Much Furniture Do You Really Need?” It explores how much furniture you should have when selling your house… hint, it’s not how much you have now!