When it comes to selling your home one of the things your real estate agent may suggest is staging your home to bring maximum value at closing. Some agents spend their own money preparing and marketing homes, hiring professionals to make sure the house is ready for potential purchasers to view before it goes on the market.

The goal of staging is to present a welcoming, ready-to-move-in home to the buyer while evoking an emotional response. A lasting impression can be created by updating the décor in the living area, main bedroom, kitchen, and dining room with a trendy, warm aesthetic.

A home’s staging, according to NAR’s 2021 Profile of Home Staging, “makes it easier for a buyer to imagine the property as a future home,” according to 82 percent of buyers’ agents. In order to give sellers comprehensive instructions on how to prepare their home room by room for sale, real estate brokers hire a professional home stager to conduct a staging consultation for them.

But, what if the property requires more than just a consultation? In order to fill the gaps and give homes a more modern appearance for purchasers, many homes require the addition of furniture and decor that are either brought into empty rooms or added to augment the homeowner’s items.
Agents are proposing to cover the costs of the hands-on staging and inventory fees since they are aware that the staging will help the house sell more quickly and at a higher price even if the sellers do not have the cash flow to pay for professional staging. The agent-seller partnership benefits from this since the fee of incorporating home staging is added into the listing process.

You only have one opportunity to make a good first impression. According to NAR data, 99 percent of millennial house buyers begin their search online. Even in a competitive market, staging a house can positively affect a buyer’s decision to schedule a personal showing and submit an offer.
According to research from the Real Estate Staging Association, roughly 75% of sellers experienced an ROI of 5% to 15% over the asking price with an average investment of 1% of the sale price into staging (RESA). The IAHSP report also reveals that for sellers who choose not to stage, the average price reduction on a home was five to twenty times greater than what the staging investment would have been.

So, when it comes to the selling of your home it boils down to this. To stage or not to stage that is the question.