The Broker’s Perspective: Home Staging

Our brokers are deeply connected to the issues that face local home-buyers and sellers. In this series of blogs, “The Broker’s Perspective” Windermere Stanwood and Camano Island brokers provide insight into current market trends and topics. This week, we discuss how staging your home can impact its value with broker, Laine Kloke.

For more than 20 years, the benefits of staging a home have been well documented. Numerous studies show that staging helps sell a home faster and for a higher price. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, 88 percent of homebuyers start their search online, forming impressions within three seconds of viewing a listing. When a home is well staged, it photographs well and makes the kind of first impression that encourages buyers to take the next step.

Studies also indicate that buyers decide if they’re interested within the first 30 seconds of entering a home. Not only does home staging help to remove potential red flags that can turn buyers off, it helps them begin to imagine living there. Homes that are professionally staged look more “move-in ready” and that makes them far more appealing to potential buyers.

According to the Village Voice, staged homes sell in one-third less time than non-staged homes. Staged homes can also command higher prices than non-staged homes. Data compiled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development indicate that staged homes sell for approximately 17 percent more than non-staged homes.

In a study conducted by the Real Estate Staging Association in 2007, a group of vacant homes that had remained unsold for an average of 131 days were taken off the market, staged, and relisted. The newly staged properties sold, on average, in just 42 days, – which is approximately 68 percent less time on the market. The study was repeated in 2011, in a more challenging market, and the numbers were even more dramatic. Vacant homes that were previously on the market for an average of 156 days as unstaged properties, when listed again as staged properties, sold after an average of 42 days—an average of 73 percent less time on the market.

In short, less time on the market and higher selling prices make the small cost of staging your home a wise investment.

Laine’s Perspective

Staging a home in preparation for sale is a very important step which is oftentimes skipped over. With Internet searches leading how prospective buyers are finding homes, it’s imperative to capture their attention through clean, move-in ready, and welcoming images. This is done through staging, which can be as complex or simplistic as you want.

In my experience, I’ve found the following staging elements to be of high importance:

CONSISTENCY

Staging must be consistent throughout the house. Choose a theme so that each room flows from one space to the other.

KEEP IT NEUTRAL

Try to refrain from incorporating religious or political items into your home staging. There will be many people with many life perspectives who will see the home; you want to make sure the design doesn’t dissuade or offend anyone from pursuing your home further.

CURRENT

Visit current home design trends so that your home presents well and not outdated.

SEASONAL

Use color schemes that are appropriate for each season.

Laine Kloke | Windermere Stanwood and Camano Island Broker