Curious about the cost of home staging? Keep reading to explore how to budget effectively and the value it adds to your home sale.
You may have heard a real estate agent say that home staging can be a great way to sell your home faster and for more money. One-fifth of realtors say that homes that were staged sold at higher prices and on tighter timelines.1 There are a variety of benefits of staging a home. But to reap these benefits, you’ll likely have to make investments –– of time, money, and energy.
Today, we’re breaking down the associated costs of staging a home and some compelling reasons why it can be well worth the investment.
We mentioned earlier that roughly 20 percent of realtors attributed higher sale prices and quicker overall sales to home staging. But how much more can staging your home actually tack onto its value?
According to a 2021 study from the Real Estate Staging Association in which 4,600 properties were surveyed, staged homes sold for an average of $40,000 more than their non-staged counterparts.2 Staging, it seems, can make a huge difference –– more than justifying the initial investment. But perhaps the biggest advantage of one you can’t put a price tag on: these nearly 5,000 homes also sold over a week faster than the competition. If you’re shopping for a home and trying to coordinate sales with purchases and closing dates, the value of a speedy sale can rival or exceed an over-asking-price offer.
In a nutshell, home staging turns your home into a film set–– not like the set of a tense, drama-filled Western, but instead like the perfectly cozy stage for a troupe of your favorite sitcom characters. Using strategically placed furniture, fresh coats of neutral paint, and a healthy dose of decluttering and depersonalizing, staging plays up all the best features of your home –– making it a place potential buyers are eager to return to.
Home staging is a sales tactic at its core, and its effectiveness is rooted in psychology. By appealing to human nature and the fundamental truths present in every homebuyer, your staged home can stand out from the thousands of other homes listed on sites like Zillow. Instead of triggering the “keep scrolling” impulse, you send the “now this is interesting…” signal to the brain. Earning this closer look can be the difference between selling your home above your asking price and watching your home struggle to get the attention it deserves.
Home staging is a common practice among real estate professionals. There are even businesses that deal solely in providing home staging services. The Ohio-based Columbus Home Staging boasts that their clients’ properties “generate competitive offers from multiple love-struck buyers.” Results may vary, of course.
But feverish interest in your home comes at a cost. The average home staging cost falls between $800 and $3,000.3 This is a wide range, largely due to the multiple fees that go into this figure. You’ll need to consider:
Given the various home staging costs, you’ll want to figure out how to factor this expense into your home sale budget. But the full size of this expense will depend on the size of your home, your existing furniture, and perhaps most importantly: the value you place in staging.
The true value of home staging will vary from homeowner to homeowner, and the fact of the matter is that there’s no way of knowing just how valuable this tool will be until the offers start rolling in. So, as you begin preparing your home to sell, consider the potential upside as well as if this particular approach fits into your budget. But even if it’s not in your budget, don’t count staging out just yet –– we’ll outline some more cost-effective ways to stage your home later.
Staging can add thousands to your home’s value and subtract weeks from your sale timeline –– if you’re properly leveraging this strategy. We’ve assembled a comprehensive home staging checklist, but here are a few important home staging tips to keep in mind.
This two-part approach may be the most valuable aspect of staging. It can also be the easiest. When beginning to stage your home, start by storing (or parting ways with) some of the clutter that can accumulate over the years. Obstructions in walkways tend to draw the eye away from key features while also shrinking the space, and overly personal touches can detract from your staging efforts.
Kitchen. Living room. Primary bedroom. If you can only focus your staging energy on a few areas in your home, ensure that these spaces get the proper attention –– as they’re the places potential buyers will be examining the most closely.
Good home staging begins to pay off when home buyers tour the kitchen or the bedroom. Great home staging pays off the second they walk through the door. Pay attention to your home’s entryway, adopting an outsider’s perspective to create the right first impression –– one that simply can’t be shaken.
There’s no way to avoid it: the home staging process will require an initial investment. The question becomes whether that will be a financial investment or an investment of time. If you’re looking to reap the benefits of home staging without pouring thousands into this approach, you may find yourself comfortably in the latter camp.
Fortunately, if you’ve got enough time on your hands, you can forgo hiring a professional home stager and simply become one yourself. Well, maybe not an expert, but close enough.
There are online home staging courses available, but your best bet may be to get your “online degree” from YouTube University. The video platform is chock full of free resources for home staging from professional home stagers and experienced novices alike.
Another way you can take advantage of the many perks of home staging without breaking the bank is by simply following your intuition. Think objectively about your home — what are its strongest features, the ones that would catch your eye if you were a potential home buyer? Accentuate these features by ensuring the space is well-lit, and that decor in these areas is visually appealing but inoffensive.
This doesn’t mean you have to replace all your furniture. In fact, a fresh coat of earth-toned paint or some neutral-colored drapes can help you draw the eye to your home’s best traits without distracting from them.
With these inexpensive (or even free!) strategies, you can stage your home like a pro for a fraction of the price.
Home staging can help you sell your home faster and for more money, but it certainly comes with its share of disadvantages. There’s the investment of time or money –– either of which can be too costly for some homeowners –– along with the chance that it may not even pay off in the end. It’s also not the only quick way to access your home equity.
Truehold’s sale-leaseback combines ease and efficiency and may present an appealing alternative for those looking for a quick sale. When you sell your home to Truehold, you can access your home equity in as little as 30 days, then continue living in your home as a renter for as long as you choose. This provides you the flexibility you need to shop for your next home, the familiarity of remaining in your cherished space, and the freedom that comes from accessing your home equity.
Learn more about Truehold’s sale-leaseback by connecting with one of our advisors, and get a cash offer on your home within 24 hours.
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