Is Staging Your Home Worth the Time and Cost?

By Mark Callender

Hello, my name is Mark Callender and I am a licensed real estate agent with RE/MAX Results. Because I have been helping families buy and sell their homes for more than 18 years, I am now helping their children to buy their first homes and their parents to downsize. No matter the direction you’re moving, my goal is to make the process as calm and enjoyable as it can be.

Thinking about selling your home? If so, have you considered staging it before listing? Today, I want to talk about why staging is so crucial and the different ways you can do it.

What are your options? You can go for virtual staging, which is usually much less expensive, or you can opt for full-blown staging, where a professional comes into your home which can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $4,000. It’s a significant investment, but it can really pay off.

If you’re saving money, there’s a third option: hiring a stager who will use your existing furniture and decor. They’ll come in, remove some items, and restage your home to make it look fresh and appealing. The best results I’ve seen come from either virtual staging or having a stager use what you already have.

But what exactly are the benefits of staging? Let me give you three benefits you don’t want to throw away.

1. Helps potential buyers visualize how everything fits in your space. One thing I often hear from people is that they think staging is a waste of time. They say, “Let’s just get professional photos and call it a day.” But I have to ask: have you ever walked into a new construction home where everything is beautifully staged? It looks fantastic, right?

Now, think about your home. Even though it’s previously owned, it’s going to be someone else’s new home. Buyers need to imagine themselves living there, and that’s tough to do if your personal items are everywhere. Staging helps create that vision.

2. Staging minimizes issues and highlights features. No home is 100% perfect, but staging allows you to move the focus away from your flaws and toward your strengths. Small rooms, dated appliances, and old fixtures can all be mitigated by proper staging. Items that would normally be sticking points at negotiations might be looked over by buyers who are attracted to your property’s best features.

3. The data proves staging nets you a great return on investment. Now, let’s talk numbers. Data shows that if you invest about 1% of your home’s final sales price (or list price) in staging, you can typically get back a return on investment of 2 to 1 or even 3 to 1. That means you could potentially double or triple what you make when it’s time to sell.

Whether you’re planning on selling soon or years down the road, it pays to plan ahead. Call me at (612) 961-9448 or send an email to Mark@MarkCallenderHomes.com for a free, no-obligation pre-sale consultation. I’ll go over your neighborhood, the market, staging, and more. I look forward to hearing from you!