Here at Set To Show, we live, eat, and sleep home staging every day. Collectively, our staff views an average of 10 homes a day and an average of 40 homes/week. We see what works and we see what doesn’t work, and we factor this into our staging plans for our clients. We see our staging efforts work every day.

But for a seller who buys and sells an average of 3 houses during their lifetime, staging is not top of mind,­­ and may even seem like an unnecessary expense. Rest assured, staging your home for sale is a good investment.

Here’s Why

Great listing photos = more showings! A staged home looks amazing on the listing photos, generating more on-site showing traffic. More showings, translates into a faster sale and maybe even multiple offers. According to the National Association of Realtors, the average buyer spends 6 minutes viewing a home. And they form an opinion in the first 15 seconds. But when a home is staged, they linger in a home for an average of 40 minutes. The longer they stay at a house, the more emotionally attached they become to the house. They start to envision themselves living in this house and suddenly, they cannot live without the house!

Staging emphasizes the positives in a house. When a home has small imperfections or a less than appealing floorplan, research shows that nearly a third of buyers (27%)1 are more willing to overlook those faults when the home is staged.  At Set To Show, we  emphasize the unique selling features of the house and draw attention to those features we want the buyer to notice, like an amazing view out the back or a gorgeous fireplace. And 81% of buyers find it easier to visualize the property as their future home when staged.1

If you need more convincing information, take a look at the statistics below:

-        Bankrate.com reports the ROI for staging is 586%!

-        Staged homes sell 88% faster and for 20% more money, according to Realtor.com.

-        97% of buyer’s agents said that staging affects the buyer’s view of the home, as reported by the National Association of Realtors.

-        RESA, the national real estate staging association, reports that homes staged prior to going on the market, sell in 90% less time.

-        58% of seller’s agents said staging increases the dollar value of the home, according to NAR.

Staging is always less expensive than your first price reduction.

National organizations state that a seller should spend, on average, 1% of the list price on staging. An average first price drop, dependent upon the list price of the home, may range between $5000 -  $20,000. Our staging costs for a home less than $500,000 are traditionally less than that $5000 (assuming that only key rooms and selling spaces are staged).

So if your home is on the market with no action, try staging first prior to dropping the list price. You may be pleasantly surprised that the staging helps the home feel and show at a higher value, and will ultimately get you more for the sale price.