The only rental furniture I'm familiar with is the cheap carp you can rent when you can't afford to buy or only need it for a few months, and that ran about $100-200 per month for a small apartment's worth.

For staging a $1.5M house, you'd need good furniture that fits the mood of the house and enhances the decor rather than detracts from it the way 'regular' rental furniture would. -- So you'd need a connection.

Did she break down the $6,000 into fees and rental? It's a big check to write, but a tiny fraction of the sale price. How much confidence do you have in her suggestions?

I agree with sweeby~if you're in a $1.5 mil home, you can't show furniture that isn't comparable to the home itself, tacky.

I live in San Diego where there are several consignment stores fairly easy to get too, and that's what I would choose to do. Take the weekend to rent a truck and make your purchases~you'll have furniture for your next home, or you can re-sell it back to the consignment store or put it on craigslist. The stores usually have mint condition furniture/accessories, and I find the prices to be fair for most pieces. ;o)

patty_cakes

Thanks sweeby and patty cakes for your quick responses.

The stager charges $1,000 for the set-up and the furniture rental will be $2,500 per month.

We were thinking that we go around to the consignment shops in our area and purchase furniture. It seems that it would be cheaper to purchase than to rent, and like you said, patty cakes, we can always resell it.

Our goal with the furniture is to "tone down" our style a bit. Our furniture was better suited to our last house, a mid-century modern house. Our current house is a late 70s ranch, on the contemporary side with no window mouldings, crown mouldings, etc. We have vaulted ceilings in most rooms.

We have some Danish modern stuff that we would store away and replace, and some clean-lined contemporary stuff that would mix well with more traditional pieces.

Our living room, for example, has a large bookcase wall unit with dark wood shelves, brushed steel vertical supports, and frosted glass doors, a red modern couch on chrome legs, a Noguchi glass topped coffee table and two Mies van der Rohe barcelona chairs. All very "Design Within Reach".

J.

I used a stager to sell an under $100K house. She was a friend who was trying to "break" into the house staging business and I was her guinea pig, so I received her services for free in exchange for a referral. She basically rearrange my furniture, hung a few things on the walls, and added a few decorative touches--throws, pillows, baskets, etc.--here and there. She said the goal with staging is to show how usable and livable each room is...to help a buyer envision him/her self living there. I thought she did a nice job for the money! (ha!) Whether it did any good or not is anyone's guess. The house was listed in September and didn't sell until January, but the housing market in our area is very slow right now and even more so over the winter.

6000 dollars for staging a 1.5 million dollar home is still WAY less than the first price reduction might be. Ask for references, maybe a portfolio, and interview some others. In the end, a GOOD stager is usually more than worth what they charge.

Is it reasonable? Well, I guess what I'd do is go to the bank & withdraw $6K (in $100s). Take it home & sit on MY sofa & count the cash several times. I'd figure out how long it took me to earn it. Then, how long it took to save it. I'm saying this 'cause, for sure, I'd not use plastic for this type expense any more than I'd use plastic for paint or new carpeting before listing my home for sale. I mean...I mean...what if the house doesn't sell for some reason & I don't have "equity" to pay it off? I wouldn't want to have all that plastic come back & bite me in the backside.

Then, if after sitting there fondling my hard-earned savings...I felt it was a good use of those $100s I'd go for it. What the heck...if I made $75/hour then $6K only represents two weeks gross salary, right? So, I'd only be working two weeks out of every six to pay the stager. Why heck, how could that NOT be a good deal?

/T

Why not take some pictures of your rooms and post them and see what everyone says? Getting advice here is a lot cheaper then spending the cash. Who knows maybe you won't have to rent all of those pieces.

We have some Danish modern stuff that we would store away and replace, and some clean-lined contemporary stuff that would mix well with more traditional pieces.

Our living room, for example, has a large bookcase wall unit with dark wood shelves, brushed steel vertical supports, and frosted glass doors, a red modern couch on chrome legs, a Noguchi glass topped coffee table and two Mies van der Rohe barcelona chairs. All very "Design Within Reach".

I am not the person to consult about this, because the way you have your living room furnished would sell the house to me in an instant (if it were in my price range). I am in the process of buying a 1951 split level that the sellers have tried to decorate as Early American.

On the other hand, if your prospective buyers are anything like most of my family, seeing anything that looked "modern" would drive them out the door screaming, even if it didn't come with the house. So I can understand why you might choose to change the look in order to appeal to a wider range of buyers.

I think it might take an awful lot of furniture and accessories to make a very big change, but you might be able to remove some of the "edge" much more easily. I agree with roselvr: if you can, post some pictures and let people make suggestions. You might also want to post them in the Decorating forum.

okmoreh: You might also want to post them in the Decorating forum.

Staging is definitely not decorating. You decorate according to your taste and budget to suit your lifestyle, but you stage to sell.

You folks are just great. Once the painter has done doing his thing and our house is back to a more respectable state, we'll work on posting some pictures.

triciae, I like your down to earth response.

I am beginning to think that people ARE as stupid as they are portrayed on those HGTV shows, where they are overwhelmed by the paint and furnishings instead of paying attention to such mundane things as the age of the HVAC system and other appliances and the information contained in the pest control report.

J.

Staging is definitely not decorating. You decorate according to your taste and budget to suit your lifestyle, but you stage to sell.

No, it's not. But there has been some discussion of staging there recently, and people in that forum are very generous about looking at rooms with a fresh eye, which is helpful to anyone who has lived with the same style for a long time.

Of course, if you prefer to discuss staging with people who are churlish rather than generous, that will not be the right forum.

okmoreh Of course, if you prefer to discuss staging with people who are churlish rather than generous, that will not be the right forum.

I must have misunderstood - you are calling the folks in the Buying and Selling Homes forum churlish and not generous? If that is indeed what you are stating, I would sincerely disagree (and try and prevent my fingers from pointing out the rudeness of that remark... oh the irony.)

The folks in this forum are honest and helpful. The posts may seem harsh on occasion, but they are to help folks sell their house, not praise their great taste.

I made a post on the decorating forum a while ago about decorating my table and didn't get any real feedback, but I did get some criticism.

This forum is geared towards buyers & sellers. People usually post here for feedback after their house has been sitting without showings. People give their opinions on what they don't find appealing in the photos / description posted. I find it honest, and who better to get honest feedback from then someone you don't know? I would rather it be honest then sugar coated.

The reason people may find it harsh is that they aren't ready to hear honest feedback.

When I posted pictures of my house last week, I knew some wouldn't like my pictures or vases of flowers. I don't necessarily like someone else's decorating style either. If we all liked the same thing; what a boring world it would be.

Triciae, I loved your response also~you're so matter-of-fact, and honest in your opinions. I like that!

Since you have a few Danish modern pieces already, how about Ikea, would it work in with what you have? Not expensive stuff, which is why a lot of people seem to like it, and works for the moment. It might sell quite easily on craigslist~just another thought! ;o)

patty_cakes

[Quote]I am beginning to think that people ARE as stupid as they are portrayed on those HGTV shows, where they are overwhelmed by the paint and furnishings instead of paying attention to such mundane things as the age of the HVAC system and other appliances and the information contained in the pest control report.[/Quote]

Not all people are that dumb, but it certainly seems many of them are more focused on the furnishings and paint than the more important items. Of course, HGTV is also teaching many people to be that way, as well, with all their shows dedicated to buying/selling houses. The media has a huge effect on people, bad or good.

Oh puh-leeze. I have no quarrel with most of the replies on any topic in this forum, but it is beginning to sound as if replies from average participants, and particularly from buyers [shudder] aren't welcome.

Is every other person who posts in this forum either a seller or a real-estate professional?

Maybe I should be disqualified from posting, because I recently made an offer on a house that showed absolutely no evidence of staging, and was furnished and decorated in a manner inimical both to the basic style of the house and to current taste - furthermore, in a style that I dislike. None of the 50 or so houses I viewed showed any signs of having been staged - the town is something of a backwater - but I am somewhat immune to it anyway, because I can't help noticing that my furniture is different, larger, smaller, whatever, so the effect would be different.

Since I recommended the Home Decorating Forum, I'll post links to one or two threads there that deal with staging. I agree that the average discussion of decorating won't be pertinent, and as in any open forum there can be messages that aren't useful, but these are specific to staging. The first one is describes several different properties, but please be warned that it wanders into a different topic toward the end.

Here is a link that might be useful: Staging tricks

I think staging is a great idea. However, staging with rented furniture to the tune of $2,500 a month would strain my good senses.

As you say, houses in your area that are selling are "move-in ready" are selling quickly. That doesn't require rented furniture.

You won't get any argument from me, graywings.

Somewhere between,

"You have to spend money to make money."

and

"A dollar saved is a dollar earned."

lies commen sense.

Spending $6K to stage a home for a couple months, even in CA, falls in the realm of, "A fool & his money are soon parted", IMO. But, it's not my house nor my $6K. :)

Tricia

The other thing to bear in mind is that $1.5M in the San Francisco Bay Area is more 'upper middle class' than 'mansion' -- Is that about right, Jeichler? (And by any chance, is it an Eichler house?)

In any case, I'd think the most effective furniture staging would be getting properly-scaled, attractive, purpose-specific furnishings into rooms that may not have them. For example, adding a dining room set to an empty dining room, or restyling a 'junk room' into a home-office. In other words, every room should have a clear purpose with a logical flow from room to room, and the house should look like it has enough storage space.

While some people do get overly caught up on paint colors or furniture styles, IMO, it's the location and floor plan that really matter. Buyers need to be able to picture their furniture in your house.

Check the rental prices on Cort.com. You can choose a living room package in a variety of styles for $71 to $200 (in my area). If you do 5 rooms, I'd guess about $500 total a month. Of course, you have to supply your own accent pieces.

While we've on this topic...

Where DOES "Designed To Sell" GET those $150 build-it-yourself leather sofas? Or, the $235 build-it-yourself complete dining room sets? Considering they film in CA they have access to stuff much cheaper than I know where to go!

Are they just props & would fall apart if somebody sat down on them? Sorta like the cardboard computers sitting on desks at the furniture store?

When we were sellng our house, we looked at the option of renting a staging selection of furniture but found that we could do the same thing cheaper by buying from cosignments stores and during sales. What would have cost around $4,500 to rent, we were able to do for about $2000 and we also recoup some of the investment as we are puting the items we don't want back into a consignment store. Example - Beautiful 3/4 inch glass top coffee table for living room cost $46 plus tax to purchase from cosignment store. Changing our our furniture had a major impact on the how our house showed. Our house was on the market for 1.3 Mil so it is a similar California market.

okmoreh, I don't understand how you are interpreting the postings as being solely from sellers and real estate agents. We are in more of a buyer's market, so sellers are eager to get some helpful advice on how to make their homes as attractive to buyers as possible. I am sure that when it was a seller's market that the buyers were here asking for advice on the best ways to find a house and how best to make an offer.

sweeby, our previous house was an Eichler, but I have retained my nom de plume. That was truly our favorite house.

I would say that our house/neighborhood would be classified as upper middle class. Our house certainly is no mansion! When I was a kid, I always figured that the folks on the Beverly Hillbillies lived in a $1M house, and our house is nothing like that. It is just over 3,000 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3 car garage, living room, dining room, family room.

We were at Ikea last night and picked up a few pictures, a sofa table, and some accessories for the master bathroom to make it "spa-like". We did not find any $150 leather sofas or other outrageously inexpensive furniture.

Thank you all again for your helpful suggestions.

I guess no one posting has worked with a stager and decided to rent furnishings during the period their house is for sale? I was hoping to get a little first hand information.

clg7067, it is funny looking at the Cort website. They prominently feature the Mies van der Rohe chair we have in their room scenes (the black leather armless chair with chrome legs), but do not seem to offer it for rent. Is Cort trying to look sophisticated using that piece (making us, of course, sophisticated people) or are they trying to appeal to the bachelor who may like leather and clean lines? Our fear is that our furnishings are too masculine and may turn off the female buyer... well, at least that is what the stager was trying to make us believe.

If you're concerned about females feeling edgy in your home...it's easy & cheap to add a "chick" touch. You've, probably, got "stuff" growing in your garden. Find a tall, very skinny, clear-glass vase (or, a short, chunky one)...just before a showing pick a single DRAMATIC leaf from one of your plants & park it in the vase with a little water. Instant "chick" & costs nothing. Just the single leaf is way more sophisticated than an entire floral bouquet, IMO, & does wonders for softening a room. I especially like the effect in the powder room or master bath but it's equally dramatic in the center of the dining room table.

Tricia

I was at Target the other day, they had a few nice vases (both clear & colored) along with different fakes you can use to fill them. I almost bought an orchid branch, but went with one without flowers due to having too many flowers already.

Not sure if you have Ross over by you, but they also had a few decent inexpensive pieces you could use to soften the place. I picked up one of those glass tiles vases for 1/2 the price of one I'd seen in Bed, Bath & Beyond.

JC Penney has great sales on pictures, a lot of 1/2 price and clearance.

Is every other person who posts in this forum either a seller or a real-estate professional?

I'm a seller that's buying as well. When i see a post asking for input, I try to look at it as I would any other house I'm considering buying.

triciae : While we've on this topic...

Where DOES "Designed To Sell" GET those $150 build-it-yourself leather sofas? Or, the $235 build-it-yourself complete dining room sets? Considering they film in CA they have access to stuff much cheaper than I know where to go!

Are they just props & would fall apart if somebody sat down on them? Sorta like the cardboard computers sitting on desks at the furniture store?

I've seen them hall in Big Lots bags & Home Depot bags. Over the years they've had a lot of sponsors. Hopefully no one decides to sit on some of that stuff or let their kids jump on it (ever see the DTS where the kid is jumping on the bed!? *jawdrop* (we need emoticons here too!))

To answer your question, I used a stager but didn't rent or add furniture.

Even if you think you know a lot about staging, you can learn from a professional stager.

When we were selling in coastal S. CA last summer we also looked into staging for our empty 1500 sq ft house. It was going to be about $4000 to stage. (I can't remember what the monthly was going to be.) Our house had been sitting empty for a couple of months at that point. The staging was just going to bust our budget with two house payments.

Since we had already moved out of state, we decided instead to do light staging...spa bath accessories/towels in bathrooms, and some kitchen accessories on the counter. Go figure...it ended up selling to someone who had seen it prior to us adding these things.

Since it sounds like you have great taste IMO (an Eichler would be my dream home!!), I would say you could probably stage your own house for cheaper than the stager is offering. Just keeping things clean lined will be easy with your taste. Like other have said, a couple thousand dollars can go a long way at Pier 1, consignment stores, etc. If we had lived locally, this was definitely going to be my plan of action for selling our empty house.

Good luck with whatever you decide and post some pics!

I think HGTV created Buyers/monsters-lol

The expectations in today's RE market are ridiculous. I never had to stage my house prior to selling this last one.
I felt that in a tough market, it was necessary.
My first buyers (who backed out), fell impulsivley in love with my house & wanted to buy it furnished.
I attribute that to some staging & some decorating. I did a bit of both.

I staged to give each room a purpose & space. I decoarted to detract the eye from the little deficiencies that some buyers would not like.

Example: I had an ugly painted plywood door going into the attic. I covered it with a huge canvas. I painted something on it that took me 5 minutes-no lie! It looked like a picture that belonged there.
I had laminate counters, so I staged the tiled center island. That drew the attention onto the beautifully decorated island, instead of the laminated counters 3 feet over. I covered my ugly TV stand with a sheat, ect.
I set up an inflatable bed with sheats & all to make the extra Den look like a kids room.

I did not spend much money. I was rather thrifty. I knew that the buyers today are different from 13 years ago & part of me resented to have to stage. However, I couldn't see buying new furniture. I needed to save money for new furniture for the NEW house. My taste had changed over the years. I just used tricks of the trade spending maybe $600 tops.

I am amazed at the business generated by real estate. In my honest opinion, serious home buyers care less what is in your house. Only the "flaky" ones are interested in your furniture instead of your furnace.

I recently sold my "cottage." Sold it as is. Kept it clean and smelling good. Decluttered. And that was it. Had one contract walk away and the next one stuck.

It really isn't so much about any of the things that HGTV touts (although I did see one that I could not fathom how they made the sale; they were trifling and cheap). It is about waiting for the right buyer for your house.

That is my (sold!) story and I'm sticking to it.