After you’ve finished fixing up a home and you’re getting ready to sell it, you might be wondering what the next steps are. Should you start letting potential buyers come to look at it as is? Should you rent furniture to stage an empty house? Here we’ll answer those questions and tell you the advantages and disadvantages of both.
Should You Rent Furniture to Stage an Empty House?
The short answer to this is yes. The main reason? It has been shown to have a positive effect on sales across the board. In a 2015 study done by the National Association of REALTORS(R) found that for every $100 invested in staging, the potential return is $400. In a more recent 2019 study, the NAR also found:
- 28% of sellers said staged homes stayed on the market for less amount of time.
- 83% of buyers’ agents said staging a house made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as a future home.
- 10% of buyers surveyed felt that homes should look the way they were staged on TV shows.
- 38% of buyers said that TV shows which displayed the buying process impacted their business.
If we break all of these statistics down, we find that staging a home before selling it can increase its value and cause it to sell faster.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Staging a Home
We should be completely clear here. Staging isn’t required to sell a home. It is completely optional. Plenty of empty homes sell every day. In fact, some sellers would argue an empty home is easier to visualize yourself in. You can see your items there in your head rather than the decorating preferences of someone else. However, it all depends on your potential buyers.
The advantages of staging a home are clear. You are likely to sell the house faster and you can actually increase its value. It has been shown that people will pay more for a house that feels more like a home.
The main disadvantages to staging a home are time and money. You might not have the extra cash or time to decorate the home yourself. If time is an issue, there are companies that specialize in staging homes that you can look into. However, if you don’t have the money either, don’t worry. As we said before, you don’t have to stage the home in order to sell it. Just use your best judgment and do what you can.