STAGING is NOT DECORATING!

The National Association of Realtors has done studies on the value of having a home staged professionally before putting it up for sale:

• 49% of buyer’s agents said that staging had a positive effect on most buyers’ outlook on the home.
• 77% of buyer’s agents said that home staging helped buyers visualize themselves in the home Virtual staging does not have the same effect when a buyer walks into the home and can’t remember how it looked online with the virtual staging. That is why I use a professional stager that brings in furniture in addition to the smaller items.
  
• 39% of sellers’ agents stated that home staging greatly decreases the length of time a home is on the market AND increases the contract price from a buyer.
  
• 90% of my listings over the last 3 years have sold in less than 10 days… 1 took as long as 19! ALL were staged professionally, most closed at full price or over.

One more thing: let me clarify: a professional stager’s purpose is very different from an interior designer’s usual work. The typical designer wants to make a home livable for the residents. A stager’s goal, on the other hand, is to emphasize home’s assets, minimize its less desirable facets, and make everything look big, light, bright, and open in the photographs that all buyers today see online before they decide to spend time on a personal visit.

Staging-savvy designers can work wonders with dark rooms, spaces that are too small or too large, furniture that’s out-of-scale for the setting, too much furniture, strange floor plans, poor color choices, and dowdy design features. Whether what they do is comfortable to live in is almost immaterial. So, usually it’s uncomfortable! But if the goal is a shorter time on the market and more money in the bank at closing, isn’t a short term inconvenience worth it?!

I believe in this value to the seller SO much, that I pay for it!