Is Home Staging Worth It?

We recently went through the process of selling our home.  When we met with our real estate agent he introduced us to the idea of hiring someone to stage our home in order to make it more appealing to buyers. This was a new concept for us.  Our agent referred us to a home stager who then came to our home and gave us some great tips on how to paint the interior of our home and how to fix up our kitchen. Her advice was invaluable and we did what she recommended.  Rather than struggling to figure out what colors to paint each room and how to redo our kitchen cupboards, her professional eye and her experience allowed her to give us great suggestions within just a few minutes of seeing our place.

We also considered hiring her to do the actual staging for us.  She would bring in furniture, artwork, etc. and make our house look really great.  Although we almost went for it, we decided against it, as we didn’t think the extra expense would cause potential buyers to increase their offers.  Our house is quite small and every room has an obvious purpose so the staging itself seemed a bit redundant.  I would think staging would be more practical for folks with really large homes where there are lots of rooms and buyers might need some ideas as to how to make use of all of them.

Although it’s true that potential buyers will likely become more emotionally attached to the house if it is staged, in our case we were glad we decided against home staging as we had an offer that exceeded our expectations without having done the staging.

We were very glad, however, that we did agree to have the consultation as the home stager was able to help us a great deal.  She saved us tons of time by making the decisions for us.  She gave us simple suggestions like replacing the light fixture in the bathroom and getting a new door bell cover, and she told us exactly what paint colors she recommended that would match our flooring and overall theme.

If you are planning on selling your home, I would definitely recommend having a professional consultation with a home stager, even if you don’t end up hiring them to do the staging itself.  Getting advice on paint colors and odds and ends can be extremely helpful, and can result in saving you time as well as hopefully obtaining an exceptional offer from a potential buyer.