Are Your Afraid of a Staging Home Nightmare?

May 28

Staging home nightmares do occasionally happen, but the odds are on your side when you do some easy research and ask the right questions before hiring a home stager and placing your house on the market. Statistically speaking, staging homes most often produces results that help to sell your home faster and, most importantly, for more money.

Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corporation reports that staged homes will spend half the time on the MLS than homes that are not staged. A survey of more than 4,200 homes revealed that 85% of those staging homes were able to recoup 6% to 25% more than homes that had not been staged.

These impressive staging home stats offer a great incentive to get the best home stager available within your market. So what are the qualifications you need to look for in a home stager? These guidelines will help you to decide to bring on the professional home stager that will help you to sell one of your biggest lifetime assets.

Check to see if the home stager is a member of the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA). RESA has strict protocols in place for its members to act ethically and morally or risk being removed from the association.
Review the website of the home staging expert and search for a gallery of pictures that contain their work for staging homes. A member of RESA is not allowed to post pictures of staging jobs on their website other than what the stager has staged. Ask yourself, “Are the pictures appealing? Do they make you want to see the house?”
Determine if the staging home professional is certified in his or her industry. Certification is a step that home stagers take to give credibility to their ability to perform well in the home staging industry.
Liability insurance for staging homes is essential for your peace of mind if any items in your home become broken or damaged while the home stagers are on site. Simply ask the staging home companies, that you select, for proof of insurance.
For added protection and clarity on the project be sure that there is a written contract of the agreement which defines the length of the lease, the cost, and the number of rooms to be staged.
Letter of Agreement/Contract

Staging Home Cost

Staging home costs can vary depending on your house location, and the amount of staging that is required. A multi-million dollar custom home will be staged differently than a typical suburban home. Staging furniture and accessories are upgraded to reflect the caliber of the home design, style, and monetary value. Many homeowners ask to have only the most important rooms of the house staged, due to budget concerns, such as the living room, dining room, and master bedroom.

I recommend that clients stay within their budget guidelines. However, staging other rooms in the house helps prospective buyers envision how they would live in the whole house – creating a very powerful emotional feel. Emotions play an important role in purchases. This variable greatly affects the staging home cost calculations.

Additionally, a notable statistic from Homes Staging Resource survey states that there is a direct correlation between the home stagers who charge a bit more and the homes that got the best result in the sales price.

Staging Home Companies

Staging home companies may specialize in certain areas or niches including:

High-end properties
Owner-occupied homes
Vacant properties
Model homes
Vacation or AIRBNB homes

Staging home companies come in all sizes and shapes with lots of employees or with two and three-man crews. All staging home companies are not created equal, but larger does not always mean better. Many home stagers have been successfully staging for more than 15 to 20 years, working with just one assistant and a delivery driver, servicing a variety of clients including realtors, investors, builders, and homeowners.

Depending on the business model of the home staging company, some supply their furniture, others rent from furniture companies specifically designed to work with home stagers.

As a small business owner, I encourage you to have confidence in small business staging home companies. Go through the steps of the guidelines, as mentioned above, to help you form an educated decision on which home staging company will be able to service your specific needs.