As you prepare to sell your home, you may ask yourself if staging it is necessary. It might seem inconvenient, or potentially expensive if there’s a lot of work to be done. You might be tempted to skip this step altogether, but staging a home has been proven to have many financial benefits. Here’s why you should make it a part of your selling plan.
It sells homes faster. Staged homes sell significantly faster than un-staged homes, generally spending only weeks on the market while un-staged homes can take months to sell. After investing in staging, many homes that haven’t had luck on the market soon sell. By staging your home, you’re helping potential buyers visualize themselves in the home rather than seeing it as someone else’s.
It accentuates the best of the space. If you hire a professional home stager, or a real estate agent that provides this service, they will know how to make your house look its best. They will help eliminate clutter, and depending on the space, provide furniture that accentuates the assets of the house. This helps potential buyers see this home as a place they could make into their own.
You could get a higher price. Staged homes often sell for higher prices than ones that aren’t. This has to do not only with the visual aspect of the house—cleaner houses are more appealing to buyers—but also with the speed that the house sells at. If your home doesn’t sell within two weeks, it’s often recommended to drop your price. After another two weeks without a buyer, a further reduction is recommended. Staging your home and selling it quickly can help you keep your home at the initial asking price, or higher.
It gives buyers less reason to negotiate. If the staging of your home involves things like painting, updating light fixtures or putting in new flooring, these are all things that buyers will consider good about the house. In final negotiations, they won’t have any reason to make a lower offer because of the outdated fixtures or old flooring. Instead, they will just have the new assets to the house, allowing you to sell for the price you wanted.
