In many cases, home staging helps homes sell faster and for a better price.

If you’re selling a house, you want your home to appeal to buyers. Sometimes, a deep clean and decluttering are all it takes to make a home presentable. Other times, a homeowner may need to do more, like stage a home.

What do home stagers do?

Home stagers create an environment where potential homebuyers feel comfortable and can easily picture themselves living in a home that’s for sale.

A home stager’s tactics include rearranging furniture, removing or adding furniture and accessories, painting, adding plants to beds or planters, creating pleasant scents and adjusting lighting. They remove personal items and signs of pets. They may also replace flooring or add rugs. Every change a home stager makes is designed to highlight a home’s best features and downplay any flaws.

When to hire a home stager?

Some sellers’ agents—who have a good eye for aesthetics combined with first-hand knowledge of what buyers want—offer staging suggestions as part of their service. However, their primary role is to facilitate financial transactions, not stage homes. Some homeowners find it beneficial to hire a home stager, especially if the home needs lots of attention due to outdated furnishings or no furnishings at all. An empty house makes it difficult for buyers to imagine living there because there are no reference points to indicate how a room is used or the scale of the items in the room.

How much does it cost to hire a home stager?

There is no standard for home stager fees and how they are structured. Here are pricing frameworks you may encounter:

• Hourly—ranging from $25 to $200 per hour
• Set fee per room—ranging from $300-$700 per room
• Contract—often 30 days with an allowance for extensions at an additional 10% to 30% of the original contract price

Costs for any additional services like cleaning, painting or renting furniture are the homeowner’s responsibility.

When a seller’s agent stages a home, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) says the median spend on staging in 2023 was $400 versus $600 when a staging service was used.

Is it worth it to hire a home stager?

Since home staging fees vary so widely there’s no cut-and-dry answer about their value. But consider this: “20% of buyers’ agents said that staging a home increased the dollar value offered between 1% and 5% compared to similar homes that were not staged,” according to the NAR Research Group.

Another factor to consider is that a home stager can identify changes that will have the most impact. Sometimes homebuyers who do their own staging focus on aspects of the home that don’t significantly affect potential buyers’ perceptions. A home stager can help a seller make strategic choices that will have the most impact.

Also, NAR research shows that:

• 10% of sellers’ agents only stage homes that are difficult to sell
• 58% of buyers’ agents say home staging has an effect on buyers’ view of the home
• 27% of sellers’ agents say there were slight decreases in the time on market for homes that are staged
• Staged homes persuade more buyers to walk through a home they saw online

If your goals are to appeal to the most buyers, sell your home in the shortest time and maximize the purchase price, hiring a home stager can help.

When you’re ready for you next home

Selling home often means buying a new one. When you’re ready to purchase or build a new home, talk to us about a custom-made mortgage.

 

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