I should also mention that the house will list at $499k.

In my experience, most staging companies take the selling price of the home into account when calculating what to charge you to stage it...which makes some sense considering that the furnishings need to match the value proposition of the home in question.

But I've seen a couple of different models out there:

-Flat up-front staging cost + % of the sale proceeds (usually 1%)
-% of sale proceeds + 'furnishing budget' of $1-$3K, but owner gets to keep some/all of the furnishings purchased (thus no rental) - This can be a good deal if you find someone who's tastes match your own, otherwise its a crap shoot. I've seen some staging contracts where stager will offer to buy back the furnishings from you for 50% of value....then they just use it on the next job.
-Flat fee + variable budget + ongoing rental...usually no % of proceeds of sale in this model

So many different ways to contract for this, you'd be well advised to get a few different quotes and pick the one that makes the most sense to you.

I've also seen a very high uptick in "staging for pictures" contracts, where your home is only staged for the MLS pictures that will be used. Then the home remains vacant thereafter. Personally, since I don't utilize OH's all that much but instead focus mainly on internet marketing, this is a fairly inexpensive alternative model. Just be prepared for some balking from your REA as they don't believe empty homes show well. They don't, actually.....to tire kickers. They do just fine to someone that is motivated to buy already, and those are the only buyers I'm interested in for the most part. YMMV of course.

I should note I buy/sell 3-4 house per year. No rehab, just an amateur flipper.

When we sold our house (about 4500 SF) we paid a mix of flat fee and hourly fee for staging. The hourly fee was when the stagers were helping us manage some work we were doing to get the house ready to sell (painting, carpet, new vanity, etc.) and they ran errands for us and picked up stuff from stores). I think the total ended up being about $2500. They did give us some furniture and decorative items to use while the house was on the market - the house was occupied so we had most of our furniture but they put a bed in a room that was vacant, loaned us some chairs, a seating group for a sunroom, a small table with a couple of chairs and some decorative stuff. They didn't charge any rental fee for any of that. I'm sure it would have been different if they were furnishing the entire house.

Adding $750/month to the cost of maintaining the house sounds like a lot of money, given that you have the option of listing it empty.

How quickly are houses selling in your area? If I were certain that in, say, 90 days the house would sell, then maybe I could stomach the price, but suppose it is on the market for six months? That's a lot of money out the window.

Our DD and SIL sold their 2 bedroom San Francisco condo with a view by using stagers. That allowed them to move out before the house was shown. They were told by all the realtors that they interviewed that in San Francisco you make the cost of the staging in your quicker sale at a higher price than if it were not staged. They found that to be true and sold their condo for more than the realtors thought possible.

I having been staging homes since 2007 and have found that 1% to 3% of the listing price is a reasonable amount to spend on home staging. The higher the % obviously, the more work that needs to be done. So with your home listing being at $499K, The 3 mos. rental furniture and cost to stage is $4000, which is $999, below 1%. If the company is credible, that is very reasonable. A lot of hard work goes into maintaining staging inventory and insurance, etc. So know that it is worth spending a good amount of money for someone to do it right the first time. All the homes I staged in March here in ATLANTA sold in March. The market is now a sellers market and you need the leverage. Happy Selling!

Here is a link that might be useful: My Pricing Strategy

Sounds very reasonable to me too. You WILL get it back in spades if your market isn't totally dead. It also helps with your stress level as the houses normally sell much faster!

If you don't know them, make sure you see the portfolio and perhaps speak with a customer or 2.

You could just empty the house, no need to pay for staging. The right buyer would come. Everyone has a book in life, if the house meant to be theirs, they’d come to be the next house keepers, it doesn’t matter with or without staging......,,

This is an old thread, hope everything went well for her.

the-art-of-preparation, you just brought an old thread back to life.......

"They were told by all the realtors that they interviewed that in San Francisco you make the cost of the staging in your quicker sale at a higher price than if it were not staged."

Where is the empirical, statistical proof for this?

I don't believe it is out there... I have asked and looked myself.

Well, I don't have "empirical, statistical proof" but with existing homes in our town, when homes are NOT staged they sit and sit...for many months, several I've seen lingered for over a year... even if priced competively. If they can't sit, they reduce price drastically. This is particularly true of older peoples homes for the obvious reasons. Taken off the market for a week, staged, maybe painted if necessary (gray but of course!) and it's gone in under weeks or a month normally at the same price. I've no skin in this; I guess I'm just a frustrated realtor who has followed listings for many years, has sev friends who are top realtors and I've talked to many at open houses. They all know the value...which is why they try to get their clients to do it. It's a win win.

Obviously there is no guarantee that staging causes a quick sale or top $$ as there can be a myriad of issues and considerations beyond a pretty interior; hence why statistical proof is hard to come by. But it does HELP in every single case. With a house that doesn't have any major drawbacks and is a bit dated or poorly furnished it seems to make a world of difference. More $$, faster sale, less stress for the homeowners. For a house that does have issues such as mechanical, location etc the staging may cause the buyers to see the home in a much more postive light and therefore put it in the positive column for them.

Remember, most people have zilch imagination or the skills to visualize. I seem to be on other end of the spectrum and can see a palace in a pig poke. (Which is another problem altogether!) And of course we know for many there is zero tolerance for anything other than the latest look in interiors. I think it's ridiculous but it's a fact. (That can be somewhat of a regional diff I've noticed.) Why do you think HGTV has the influence it does and all these flip shows? Cuz people can't SEE IT. Staging does the heavy lifting for them.

It definitely could be a multitude of other factors - an outdated house isn't going to command top dollar, so perhaps the biggest issue is the house is over-priced. If the buyers in the area are not into fixing things up themselves, the house will sit; in other areas, fixer-uppers abound, they would snatch those right up when the price is right. I still think a *CLEAN* and decluttered house is much more important than staging.

Clean/decluttered shouldn't even have to be stressed but then again....people! I think we might be disagreeing on whether staging is necessary perhaps based on our differing definitions of "dated" and what's acceptable. Is it a wreck, down to the studs reno kind of "dated" or is it solid, just kinda 90's house? Newer house but crazy wall colors and purple leather furniture? Obviously common sense has to be used. Staging is the extra step to take when you want to move it faster, get max $$$ and the basics are OK. If the house is a huge remodel where the cons outweigh the pros...no, you wouldn't stage and it's about $$. This is the type of house we've bought over the years. We considered it acceptable if we weren't stepping over dead mice!

Eh, we could go back and forth all day -- you think staging is worth it, I think it's a total waste of money, let's just leave it that.

Oldie guys...

^^ Price for staging still relevant

I know this is an old thread, but I have a comment about staging.

I have a former coworker whose son and his wife own a staging company in San Francisco. I have looked at their website and it appears that they do business with very upscale properties in that area. And apparently things are going very well for them.

So I guess the SF real estate market supports the staging concept just fine.

That is not my question though. Just because their business is doing well, does not mean that a seller has to use them in order to sell in a timely manner at their market price.

Of course not, ncguy. I have no way of judging the SF market myself, but apparently enough people there believe it to make the business viable.

In my area - rural Midwest - the concept is a no-go.

Littlebug I think your comment about upscale properties would be a reason to use a staging company vs a middle figure house. My husband used to drag me to open houses. At that time most developers in the under $500K did not bother to stage the houses. Above that price we would see most of them staged. If it was a resale at that price level and not new construction some would not want to use their own furniture for fear of damage and things disappearing.

Staging works IME. Not only for upscale properties, but for all kinds of properties. It is true that a clean and well organized space is the best method for presenting your property. However, many buyers do not have the ability to visualize their furniture in a vacant property. I have found that staging vacant properties, unless they are foreclosures going to investors, is beneficial to the seller financially. The idea is to evoke an emotion from the buyer and part of that is showing how the property 'lives' when furnished.

Naturally you don't spend big bucks staging a small home. You can stage the important areas of the home without staging each and every room. You can stage it reasonably (in cost) so that the seller nets more than if the home were not staged. Not all homes need staging, but the owners that take the time and money to do so end up with a fatter bottom line after the cost of staging...at least in my direct experience. But I'm not is SF, I'm in S Fl.

BTW, builders here have been staging models at all price points for decades - at least since the 1970's when I got into the real estate business. Even entry level homes get staged by builders.

Staging absolutely works. This month is the Parade of Homes in our neck of the woods and I went and looked at a few homes yesterday. One was very dark with not enough windows to let in light. (And it was a sunny day!) However one couple was so enamored by the house exclaiming what a beautiful home it was. And yes, on the surface it looked beautiful because it was very well staged.

Another home the same thing. Of course if you didn't overlook that you had to walk up a too short step to enter the house or a similar step to get out to the lanai.

Or that the outdoor shower was behind the master bath, where you had to go through the regular shower to get to the outdoor shower and there was no way to use the outdoor shower from the pool area because it was complete blocked off without even a door.

Or the wasted space between the living area and kitchen.

But the place was beautifully staged and it looked absolutely stunning at first glance.

^^ But did the house actually get any offers?

Or is the Parade of Homes just a fancy term for a neighborhood home tour and nothing to do with selling the home?

The problem with trying to determine if it produces a quicker sale for more dollars is that there is no way to know how long it would have sold or for what price if it was not staged.. And until there is, I am an advocate of saving the hassle, time and money and put that energy into Cleaning, Nuetralizing, Decluttering and Repairing.

mxk from your comment you must live in an area that does not do this. Here we have them both spring and fall. Developers from all over the 8 county area have open houses for an entire month during the Parade of Homes time with both their staff and realtors on hand both to answer questions and to sell. Although I no longer receive the local paper it used to have a special section paid for by the local realtors and developers. In the section there would be hundreds/thousand or more houses that were available for viewing with the addresses of each. People interested in the latest building designs and décor could tour a bunch on the weekends that the houses were open.

I keep thinking that I should start looking this year to see what changes were available to update this house. Last time my husband and I toured some of the houses one of the updates that I would like to add was an egress exit that in one area was required in all new houses. It was not just a large window but an extended window well that a person could enter and via a ladder on the side or built in steps escape a problem within the dwelling. Not to everyone's taste but would make great winter plant growing area.

I have to believe staging absolutely works. Why else would builders pay so much money to stage new construction homes. Staged homes sell faster than empty ones.

Staging has been around a long time.

I sold a home in 1981 that I had barely moved into with no window coverings, virtually no furniture. Went quickly enough. The buyer put it on the market in six mos. with no changes. Except furnished in beautiful antiques. Seeing it on an open house with a friend, our mouths hung open in disbelief that this was the same place! Despite a crashing r/e market, it quickly fetched 21.3% more than I sold it for.

Luxury infill homes are usually staged with high end furniture in our market. As a mortgage manager, I've unfortunately got a couple of foreclosures coming up and this has got me wondering if maybe I should stage them.

worthy if you have two similar ones in the same area do one but not the other to see which works best in your area. Then of course report back. My thought is that it will depend on the age that a seller is aiming at. Below about 45 I think staging will draw more bids. Over that age people are thinking more of will their furniture fit in the house. But that is only based on my observations and conversations with various people.

Hopefully, the mortgagors will come up with what they owe! If not, might be worth a shot if there's room in the budget. Certainly a step up on the "barely sweep and list it" approach of the institutions.

I would think staging depends on the condition of the foreclosure. If it is in decent condition, staging works. If it is in poor condition, I don't see staging making that much difference as consumers will see the poor condition.

Most of the REO properties I show have no power, no water and are in overall extremely poor condition. There are some that are in good shape, but most need new roofs, kitchens, baths etc. Not for cosmetic reasons, but because those rooms are destroyed. If it's in bad shape, an investor is going to be interested and staging won't help. If the property is in good shape and your buyer is a consumer and not an investor, it is more likely to work IME/IMO.

The homes I repoed all had owner equity of 15%-25%, so deliberate damage would be counterproductive. The "owners" just don't seem to realize that the consequences of not paying your mortgage are more serious than stiffing a credit card issuer. The Sheriff comes knocking in six months max and doesn't take "no" for an answer. I always paint, replace carpet if necessary, have all repairs done and often put in appliances.

I strongly prefer empty houses and every house I have purchased has been empty. I want to really see what I'm getting.

Once I considered staging for one home that had been on the market for a month. It was a crazy couple thousand and not worth it. I sold at asking price. I just had to wait for my buyer. 6 or 7 weeks, I think it was.

I'm a big proponent of staging. There is a reason why new, model homes are staged they way they are; staging helps project a "lifestyle" and gets people excited about having that lifestyle for themselves if they live there. A staged home also leaves a more lasting impression in the buyer's mind. It's all consumer/marketing psychology really, and very fascinating IMO.

As "seasoned" home buyer that has been around the block a few times knows this and it doesn't matter to them. I could go either way as I know what to look for, but I do love seeing a nicely staged home or model. :-)

Staging can work, but the charges can be ridiculously outsized. Let's be frank- the "stuff" they bring in has been used in many homes. The artwork is blasé. And it[s not like this is quality stuff. It's cheap. Stagers do a good job of placement, but the idea that they should charge based on a percentage of sales price is one of the reasons many people forgo this service.

Really what you're doing as a consumer is paying over and over and over again for very cheap furniture that has already shown in other homes- renting, not even to own at a very high price. Oh- and you're expected to care because of storage and the maintenance- things that should be a factored-in cost of doing business, for a business owner, and even though the "storage" of most of these pieces have been in other staged homes- while those home owners paid for it.

What is it, exactly, that makes a stager- a very temporary arrangement-think they deserve a percentage of a homeowner's long-term equity? It does add to a look, but really- do they find buyers? No. Do they do any marketing? No.

As homeowners, we see far too many people with their hands out, ready and willing to take a percentage of equity that they don't deserve. Realtors really do lay out initial cash and all their work, and can prove their worth with real metrics. Staging doesn't seem to have any of that. A flat, reasonable fee OR paid for through a Realtor's commission (if they insisted on staging) is the only way I'd do it.

About San Francisco, my home town: I cannot imagine the staging process adding real value to either an upscale home/condo or a dump. What a rip off to pay a company to showcase a property. Real estate is so hot in SF that even homes in horrible condition sell in a matter of days far above the asking price.

Also, I was in a Tuesday Morning where a very nicely dressed woman returned a shopping cart's worth of decor items and I could not help but wonder if she was a stager, returning things used to sell a home and now no longer needed-because the sheer number of things was so large, nothing was inexpensive either. It was a comment made by the sales clerk-that the lady did this all the time-that caused me to wonder....

Thanks. Interesting info, as I am tired of having my furniture remain at my old house when I really want it here at my new one. I'll pay a bit extra for the extra staging if needed!

"It was a comment made by the sales clerk-that the lady did this all the time-that caused me to wonder...."

This is the reason so many stores have tightened their return policies; some (many) now have policies in place that specifically state they monitor for excessive returns and if a pattern of abuse is detected they will refuse return. Frankly, this women should be ashamed of herself for blatantly scamming the store. Valid returns are one thing, but intentionally buying, using, returning, and repeating is fraud.

One possible reason that staged homes appear to sell faster is that the owner has become more *serious* about unloading the property.

Long before I ever heard the term 'flipping', a couple bought a small home in my neighborhood and moved in with a truckload of expensive furnisings. They added a bathroom, did some minor renovations, painted, set out their lovely belongings, and sold the house. When I went to welcome the buyers, they looked pretty downcast. All the 'charm' had been packed up onto the moving truck when the flippers moved on.

Denita, that post was spam and I flagged it. But you made very good points.

lol sushipup, that's why I should stay off my phone in the wee hours of the morning. I didn't even realize it was spam...

Yeah there was a link to sell you a course in staging.

About the return of decor items. We recently sold our home a few months ago. We used a stager. She charged us a flat fee for the staging as well as a rental fee for some items we were to rent. There was also a fee for the set up for the day she came in and moved everything in. Anyway, while I did rent some things that I wouldn't need when we moved, I did buy some decor items. She made some suggestions to me. In some cases I went to a store and took a lot of pictures of things that I liked and met the staging requirements but I wouldn't mind having. She helped me choose which ones to use. I bought a couple of thousand dollars of stuff mostly from one store. We didn't even unbag it while we were doing some work to get our house ready to put on the market. We were still doing some work to the house although most had been done when our agent asked if we wanted to show the house to someone (house was not on market yet). The house was mostly a mess -- we had been doing repainting -- but I quickly cleaned it up. I took out some of the purchased staging items and sprinkled them around the house to give home decor even though there was still work to be done.

Anyway - the buyers came in that day and loved the house and made an offer. We ended up never having to fully stage the house. We never took possession of the rental furniture (the stager didn't charge us for the rental or set up, just for the staging ideas part of it).

Anyway, we did return about half of the stuff we had bought. Basically if it was stuff we would use in a new house we kept it. But, the stuff that we wouldn't use (we were downsizing) I didn't feel we had to keep. The vast majority of the stuff had never been used at all and was brand new still in bags.

I told the people at the store exactly what happened and they were fine with it. Of course, this was a one time thing.

It is completely different if you are returning unused items on a one-time basis.

What cupofkindnessgw witnessed was a horse of a different color: many frequent returns by the same stager. Not at all the same thing as a one-time return IMO.

^^ Agreed

Well, Heather, that's insightful and certainly contributes to the conversation.

Oh, the joke for that just writes itself.