I remember back in 2012 when I got my first home staging project in LA. It was a home high in the Hollywood Hills on N Kings Road, and it was glamourous! It was the first project of many more to come where I would use my natural and learned design skills to help Realtors and Homeowners sell their properties fast! Home Staging in LA is now much more common, but I remember back then, I had to do a lot of educating to get people to understand why Home Staging is so valuable! Over the years, I’ve learned even more about its value and I’m happy to share that knowledge with you here! These are the 4 main reason why I urge you to stage your home before you list it.
- Visualization
This is the most common reason why home staging works wonders. For those of you that are design inclined, you may not have an issue in this regard, but according to the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) “2019 Profile of Home Staging”, a whopping 83% of buyer’s agents reported that home staging made it “easier for a buyer to visualize the property as a future home”. That means that, in general, most people aren’t very good at visualization. This in turn means that home staging can potentially be the difference between a buyer feeling comfortable with buying a home or feeling like they have no idea what to do with the space. It’s little things like this that can make or break a sale! Particularly for properties with a bit of an awkward layout!
- Staged Homes Sell for More Money
As a home stager, I can say from experience and with total certainty that staged homes typically sell for more money. I have so many stories of how a property I staged sold for several thousand dollars over asking or even set the record for highest valued property in a neighborhood! Moreover, according to the NAR’s 2019 Profile of Home Staging, more than a quarter of buyer’s agents reported that staging a home “increased the dollar value offered between one and five percent”. For million-dollar properties in LA, that’s a serious chunk of change! Need I say more…?
- Staged Homes Sell Faster!
There is a reason why most staging companies have a 90-day initial staging period. That is because staged homes typically sell within 90 days. I can tell you that after 8 years and over $150 Million in properties staged, I only had 3, that’s right, 3 properties that didn’t sell within 90 days! The reason for this is usually due to two things. 1. The property is over-priced and 2. The property is not being marketed properly.
In general, staged homes do not stay on the market very long. Let’s go back to our NAR 2019 Profile on Home Staging. The research shows that 25% of seller’s agents reported that staging a home “greatly decreased” the amount of time it was on the market. The proof is in the pudding folks! For a seller, staging is a great way to cut the time the home spends on the market. This is especially welcome for a seller that may have bought a new house and does not want to pay two mortgages!
- Ability to Compete with Renovated Comp Properties
This is immensely important! Let’s say you’re trying to sell your condo because you just closed escrow on your dream house. You lived there for many, many years, but never did any renovations. The place is in great condition and is clean, empty and ready for new owners. However, the condo at the other end of the hall (your condo’s comp) is currently listed and its completely renovated! At this point, your agent knows that the other condo is going to be serious competition for you. So, you can do two things. Spend tens of thousands to renovate the space or pay a few thousand dollars and get really good staging.
Staging the condo with a quality stager is an excellent option if you simply do not have the budget or time to put into renovating the condo. It can help buyers with visualization and potentially make your condo look like a real contender! If the staging looks really good, a buyer may overlook the fact that it needs some renovations and may focus more on the example provided by the staging on how to comfortably live in the space. Also, let’s say you have a better view than the renovated comp property. The staging could be the extra push a potential buyer needs to decide to purchase your condo and not the renovated competition.
There you have it! Those are my 4 main reason for staging a home. I hope you found this article helpful! If you have any questions about home staging in LA, feel free to reach out to me! I’m here to help! For my Real Estate Broker friends out there, you can download the 2019 Profile of Home Staging from the NAR’s Research Group here!
~Kita
