Reprinted with permission from Cindy Lin, Staged4More, and customized for the Carteret County real estate market. See the original article here.
When you’re putting your home on the market, you’re most likely thinking about how you can get the best price and make the best profit. You are probably asking yourself questions like, “What realtor will get me the most money?”, “What time of the year should I sell?”, “What projects should I do around the house to get a higher price?”.
If your next question is, “is home staging worth the cost?” I get it. Feeling iffy about staging your home before you sell is normal. After all, spending a decent chunk of money so that you’ll maybe get a higher asking price… Is home staging really worth it? Well, I’ll relieve you from your worrying and number crunching. The answer is yes, and statistics prove it!
The National Association of Realtors recently published their 2019 home staging study and, once again, the statistics recommend staging as part of the marketing process of listing a home for sale.
As a home stager of more than ten years, it is not a surprising result to me. We turned many skeptical clients into believers. Clients like Robyn, who was asking herself, “do I really need home staging?“.
Staged Homes Sell Faster And For More Money
A successfully-staged home sells faster, and often for more money, because the listing is focused and targets its potential buyers by creating a lifestyle the potential buyers want to buy into. Home stagers make design decisions to appeal to potential buyers’ tastes and likes.
In the same report, The National Association of Realtors found that:
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40% of buyers’ agents cited that home staging had an effect on most buyers’ view of the home.
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83% of buyers’ agents said staging a home made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as a future home.
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28% of sellers’ agents said they staged all sellers’ homes prior to listing them for sale. 13% noted that they only staged homes that were difficult to sell.
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The most common rooms that were staged included the living room (93%), kitchen (84%), master bedroom (78%), and the dining room (72%).
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A median of 10% of respondents cited that buyers felt homes should look the way they were staged on TV shows.
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38% of respondents said that TV shows that displayed the buying process impacted their business.
Staging a home increases the dollar value of the home by between 6-10%
The Return On Investment Of Home Staging
When it comes to the return on investment for home staging, “when staging a home, 22% of sellers’ agents reported an increase of 1-5% of the dollar value offered by buyers, in comparison to similar homes. 17% of respondents stated that staging a home increased the dollar value of the home between 6-10%. Recently, Coldwell Banker also published a survey result that staged homes sell for more than 6% above the asking price.
Let’s say on average, a staged home sells for 6% above the asking price. That means:
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For a $100,000 listing, that’s $6,000 extra in the seller’s pockets and $3,000 extra for the seller’s agent’s commission.
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In the Carteret County area, the current home median price is $324,000, according to Zillow. This means that the sellers can pocket an extra $19,440 and the real estate agent can stand to make an extra $9,720 on the commissions!
This means it is a win-win scenario for everyone involved, not to mention the extra 6% will more than pay for the initial investment of staging the home, which is typically between 1 and 1.5%!
Investing In Home Staging To Sell Your Home Is Smart
In real estate, a game all about numbers, investing in home staging before your home hits the market is a smart decision. It’s as simple as grabbing your calculator! Zesty Staging is located in Beaufort, NC, and provides staging consultations, redesign plans, occupied staging, and vacant staging. Contact hello@zestystaging.com for a quote.
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