To Stage or Not to Stage: That Is the Question!

Staging can be time consuming and expensive. With cleaning, repairing, touching up, decorating, and other tasks, staging can easily cost upwards of $1000. So, is staging worth it? Does it have any benefits? It’s an easy question to answer, if you have the correct information. In this post, we are going to analyze the National Association of Realtor's Profile of Home Staging to conclude whether you should stage your client's home or not.

Is Staging Worth it? Analyzing NAR's Profile of Home Staging

1. The impact of staging on buyers

• 77% - Say it is easier to visualize property as future home
• 40% - More willing to walk through home they saw online
• 38% - Will positively impact home value if home decorated match buyer’s taste
• 27% - Overlook other property faults
• 9% - Will negatively impact home value if home decorated doesn’t match buyer’s taste
• 4% - Are more suspect of home features

What does this mean?

The benefits are far greater than the negative impacts. From this data, we can see that staging helps buyers picture themselves living in that home, even if the decor doesn’t match their style; there is a positive effect. Staging will also increase the amount of foot traffic from prospects online. This means that the staging experience doesn’t begin when the buyer arrives at the home, it begins with photos online. Finally, buyers are more forgiving about property flaws when staging. Buyers are easier to work with when they are more forgiving and overlook other property faults. Based on this data, there is enough impact on the buyer to benefit them with little risk of negative impact.

2. Percentage change in dollar value when home is staged

Does staging increase the overall dollar value of the home? You would think it could go both ways, right? If the decor doesn’t match the buyer’s style, then you would assume that it would devalue the home. However, based on the data from above, we can conclude that 91% of the time, it doesn’t affect perceived value. So, if it doesn’t influence perceived value, does it affect the dollar value? Let’s look at the data from NAR:

• 1% - Staged home had a negative impact
• 25% - No impact on dollar value
• 31% - Staged home has increase of 1% to 5%
• 13% - Staged home has increase of 6% to 10%
• 3% - Staged home has increase of 11% to 15%
• 2% - Stage home has increase of 16% to 20%
• 26% - Not sure

What does this mean?

If you combine the “Staged home has increase of” segments together, 48% of staged homes have an increase in dollar value.  Since the most popular percentage bracket is between 1% and 5%, we can conclude that, in most cases, staging will increase the dollar value of the home by a little. With only 1% having a negative impact, we can conclude that staging a home is very low risk with potential high value. We can also conclude, staging a home would most likely increase its value (48% Increase, 25% No impact, 1% Negative). Finally, by staging a home, it is more likely that the dollar value will increase from 16% to 20% (2% chance) than having a negative impact (1% chance).

3. Impact of time on market

Staging can help you manage time efficiently, because staged homes sell faster! Let’s go over NAR’s statistics for the impact of time on market.

• 8% - Greatly increased time on market
• 8% - Slightly increased time on market
• 8% - Does not impact time on market
• 23% - Slightly decrease time on market
• 39% - Greatly decrease time on market
• 14% - Don’t know

So what does all of this mean?

By adding both “Slightly increased time on the market” segments together, 16% of agents stated staging  will have a negative impact on time on the market, while 62% of agents stated that it had a positive effect on their listing selling faster. Based on the data, a staged home will more than likely sell at a quicker rate.

Conclusion

Now that we’ve analyzed a portion of the National Association of Realtors’ Profile of Home Staging, we can conclude that staging a home will help the buyer picture themselves living in the home, even if the decor doesn’t match their style. In addition, buyers are also more opened to accepting flaws in the property. More than likely, it will also increase the dollar value of the home. Finally, homes that are staged are more likely to sell quicker than homes that aren’t.  From the points made from above, we can conclude that if done correctly, staging is in your home seller's best interest.  

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