Seller’s Guide to Home Staging
Is Home Staging Worth It?
Sellers who hire a home stager early on in the selling process can expect to see up to 10% increase in value of the home.
The process of selling a home can be exciting and overwhelming. From design tweaks to upgrades in order to help you do more than just sell a home but sell it at maximum value. A home stager is there for more than to just create an atmosphere of charm and design that pulls on the heartstring of the potential buyer. We’re there to work alongside the seller.
This home staging guide for sellers is designed to give you a rundown on why you should hire a professional home stager for your home sell. If you have any questions, please contact us.
In this guide we’ll explain:
Why professional home staging works in selling homes
How to choose a professional home stager to sell your home
What to expect when hiring a professional home stager
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Hiring a professional home stager can mean locking in a sell faster and at a higher price point. Creative home stagers can wax poetic about creating a lovely home space that encourages potential buyers to visualize themselves living there. However, if the numbers don’t back it up, it means nothing. We at The Stagency execute strategic home staging techniques and work with sellers. Here are hard real numbers that reveal actual increase in home selling processes. With home staging, it’s never a question of whether or not it works. It’s a question of how much it works for you.
Emotions Drive Decisions
Emotions prompt us to buy. Home staging techniques like proper lighting, making a room larger, and designing for specific feelings, all come with an experienced designer and home stager. Home buyer psychology tells us that home buyers do listen to their gut when making large purchase decisions. This goes beyond the logical determining factors like location and price. This is unquantifiable and, because of the nature of home staging, something a seller cannot always do alone. Buyers tend to explore a space with romanticized notions about previous homeowners. Properly staged homes can tell a story about the potential and successful history of the space. Another emotion linked to buying a home is promise. Home buyers will look towards the future when entering a home. They need to visualize their story in the space. Again, we can’t quantify their emotion, but we’ll risk it and suggest this is extremely hard to do in an empty room. Hire a home stager who creates emotional prompts for a home sell.
Staging Elevates Perceptions
Staged homes can help potential buyers to actually perceive a space to be larger, grander, and even more sophisticated than it actually is. This is no slight to the previous home design – it’s a technique. When a home looks and feels pristine (see buyer psychology mentioned earlier) you, as the seller, can actually maximize every cent of the home’s value. Buyers appreciate this increased value and we know the sellers do, too. Still unsure about the difference? Check out our gallery that showcases before and after photos.
Reduce Out-of-Pocket Costs
Buyers who might be cash poor will experience a sense of relief when sellers use home staging. Avoid the “so many repairs” conversation when you present a home that looks like it is turn-key ready. Expert home staging creates initial attachment and a feeling of security. This happens when the potential buyer is unable to see design flaws they think they’ll have to fix right away. This is an appealing point sellers can make when showing a home that is ready just for them.
Buyers’ Agents Love It
When buyers’ agents see a great home with professionally staged interiors, they are excited to show their clients. Their enthusiasm can help buyers see the home in a new way, too. Sellers and buyers (and their agents) need to feel like the home is just right. The chances of the home feeling just right increases with a properly staged home. Establishing and cultivating a relationship between buyers, agents, sellers, homeowners, and The Stagency all work to make the home-selling process as successful as possible.
Flexibility
Not all home stagers are created equal. It’s important to your selling process that you choose a home stager who understands that the end game is always the sell. All too often, sellers connect with home stagers who are more concerned with interior design rather than staging a home to sell. As a seller, you should be able to communicate often and openly about working towards a common goal. Whether working in an occupied or vacant staging situation, a true home staging expert will be able to work in almost any circumstance. Find a professional home stager who is not rigid in their vision and is open to considering design elements that move you closer to closing.
Upgrade Ready
Home staging has levels. When choosing a professional home stager, you should find one who is ready to dive into the fundamentals of staging a home with basic elements of textures, lighting, and color. However, a more experienced professional stager will be ready to upgrade a home in a way that feels like a total remodel but is within the design and staging world. Find a home stager who has experience in small and big home staging projects with a budget to luxury mindset (and portfolio)!
Real World Experience
If there’s one thing we know, it’s that tons of Instagram followers, certifications, courses, and design workshops are no match for real world, hands-on experience! The Stagency’s Tori Prince is an Award-Winning Home Stager, and has created a business and reputation from rolling up her sleeves and getting homes sold faster with her designs. Tori was a successful stager before she became a growing influencer with industry leadership; not the other way around. Learn more about Tori of The Stagency.
Credentials That Matter
When choosing a professional home stager, be sure you look for one that offers legitimate protection. Staging a home as part of the selling process can be overwhelming. The last thing you want to worry about is insurance, contract issues, safety, and concerns that hold up the process. The Stagency is fully insured. Our contracts and insurance cover all the bases so that you and the home stager can upgrade a home quickly and without paperwork obstacles. Learn more.
Solutions Focused
The genius of creativity is finding a solution where others see obstacles. Naturally, a creative home stager will not flinch at a stained carpet that can’t be removed, a beam in the middle of the living room, or a room that just “doesn’t work.” The Stagency designers will overcome any obstacle with a focus on designing to sell and getting the strongest ROI for the seller. Tori Prince prides herself on the team’s resourcefulness and inventiveness. When we work with sellers, we bring solutions, not problems, to the table. Get your property sold for maximum value when you contact us.
Strong Portfolio
Perhaps the most obvious factor to take into consideration when choosing a professional home stager is their design and staging capabilities. While it should never be the only deciding factor, finding a home stager that offers a “look book” of their best and most recent work should give you an idea of their sense of strategic design placement. The Stagency has a growing gallery of work and we’re excited to show it off to you. Have a look at The Stagency Gallery.
Price Matters
Price point is a key deciding factor for home staging. Sellers are sometimes unsure if the cost of home staging is worth it even though home staging is a proven technique to increase value of the home sell. Still, we understand the concern and believe we address every aspect of the price versus value. It always boils down to the bottom line, which is why we offer flexible payment options. Contact us for a quote – we’re available to answer any questions about pricing. Cost includes staging items for 65 days from the photo-ready date.
The Stagency is to be informed and has the right to remove items immediately upon release of contingencies even if less than 65 days. For each additional 30-day period, or any part thereafter (ie. prorated daily), there is an extended staging fee. This fee is due and payable at close of escrow, or immediately upon request to remove staging or upon suspension/removal from the MLS. Our team is ready for your call.
Home staging is faster than you think.
Did you know a quick turnaround time for staging projects is common? Find out how quickly we can stage your property. Contact us for a quote.
Unequivocally, professionally staged homes sell better.
Up to 17% better. We can help you sell faster now.
Trusting Design
We know it can sometimes be challenging to emotionally detach from projects. This is why we encourage everyone on the team to keep the goal of designing for the sole purpose of making a sell at the highest value possible at the forefront of our minds. It is key in our success. If we were to design based on how we’d design for loved ones, personal use, or how we’d like to live in the space, our judgement becomes cloudy and we aren’t thinking of the power of the sell. Trust that the design is strategic, lovely, and driven by the art of selling.
The Process
From quote to completion, The Stagency is here for you. We’ll stay in constant communication throughout the process so you can ask questions.
Here’s what it looks like to work with The Stagency:
First, we schedule an assessment, during which we evaluate each room to determine steps to making them appear larger, brighter and more expensive.
We’ll make an assessment of the paint colors/condition, fixtures and noted deferred maintenance concerns as well as possible upgrades.
We’ll determine optimal staging of art, furnishings, lighting and accents to create a warm and balanced space with a strong emotional appeal to buyers.
We’ll determine all the rooms that need to be staged with furniture, linens, lighting, art and accessories and how to strategically place these items to create a classy, upscale (yet warm) look and feel.
After The Sell
Once the property has sold for the highest possible price, we carefully remove all design items and return them to our warehouse. We stay in communication with the seller to see if there is anything else we can do, if things were missed, and to invite them to continue the conversation with our communities online.
“I was initially reluctant to use the services of a staging company. I thought, when you have a great property and it is a good market, why bother? My place, pre-Tori, was nice, but it was tired. My place, after-Tori, was transformed and looked amazing. I believe that my place, pre-Tori, would not have received any bids. I believe that we would have been forced to reduce our list price, and keep it on the market. My best guess is that using Tori’s services made me about $200k. I strongly recommend that you work with Tori.”