Posted by speednxs on January 29, 2007 at 08:51:50:
I have to agree with DavidB on this. If you don’t have a good first impression there is no sale (and certainly no best possible price). You may not get a lot more for staging, but it should sell quicker and avoid holding costs, DOM and lowered prices. It is much easier to stage an empty house. Make sure it is really clean before you start. Rather than deal with a greasy stove top or rusty plumbing it is so much easier to go on the next house. If the wife does the nose wrinkle (EWWWW!) thing, you are sunk.
People have emotional needs. For a woman, the house is the stage set upon which all her social relationships are played out. For a guy, it’s a reflection of his power and status. It’s also like his childhood treehouse, except it has beer, pizza and Monday Night Football. Staging helps suggest how YOUR house is going to meet these emotional needs.
Everytime I go house hunting I end up trying to remember whether I liked the house with the empty white rooms and off white carpets or the house with the empty white rooms and off white carpets. I never forget the house with the model cherry red 356 Porche sitting on the mantel piece.
Posted by Gary-NJ on January 28, 2007 at 09:36:32:
I would like to get your opinions on staging vacant homes. I am retailing a house that is vacant. I have never had a house staged before. I know that studies have shown, as well as HGTV, that prettifying a house goes a long way to drumming up interest (and bids) on a house. I’m not so sure when a house is vacant that staging makes that much of a difference. I’m not sure it is worth the money spent. Does anyone have an opinion on this?
Posted by Bob(CA) on February 01, 2007 at 19:37:42:
Staging a home really does help get it sold faster. Even if you spend $3,000 to stage it the extra 3% on a $150K House will more than pay the costs. Also the reduced carrying costs will be an added bonus. Go look at some houses in the neighborhood that are up for sale using a RE Broker where your investment house is so you can make sure yours is up to par or above par.
Posted by Mr. Todd on February 01, 2007 at 09:21:56:
Gary,
Please don’t pay to stage!! If the property is empty, please leave it that way. Send me a direct e-mail and I,ll show you how to move that property fast with out spending more money on the property, which is actually, Investing backwards!
Posted by Don (VA) on January 29, 2007 at 16:52:28:
The others (DavidB and speednxs) are right. It makes a lot of sense to stage the property. There are different levels of staging, from whole-house to vignettes, to selected rooms. And it’s just as important as when the house isn’t vacant. The goal, in both cases, is to allow the potential buyers to imagine themselves living there. In an empty house, that means staging it so that they can see how it’ll look with some furnishings. In an occupied house, it means decluttering and neutralizing…so they can see past the current furnishings to how it’ll look with their own furnishings.
Re: Staging a VACANT home? - Posted by DavidB (NJ)
Posted by DavidB (NJ) on January 28, 2007 at 09:52:32:
Gary,
Makes a huge difference and worth the bucks. Some people don’t have
the vision to see how beautiful a place can look. Twice I’ve staged
homes that were flat and not selling and it had a huge impact. In one
case I also lowered the price, but I felt the combination of staging and
lowered price was powerful. The other unit I staged (not cheap, cost
me about $3000), I attacted a buyer who was also looking at about 5
other units in the complex. My price was higher but it had added
features. That, with the staging, made it look like a model home and I
know by the way they reacted when they first walked into my unit that
the first impression was lasting!!
Gary, where are you in Jersey?
David