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I have mixed feelings on staging. I do think in a larger pricey home that staging should take place.
I feel in a smaller mid price home that it is often not necessary. There are people out there that want a home that is empty. It lets them know that they can move in soon. Nothing can happen to the home because noone is there to tear something up. Also can make the home look smaller. Gives a cleaner appeal.
Yeah, I definitely don't want to see a house full of stuff (and esp clutter) when I'm looking and it's good to know we could move in right away and no one is going to ruin the house (more wear/tear) between now and closing.
But at the same time, when I see a house that's empty, I'm thinking they're gonna be more desperate (ie, will lower their price) because they've been out of the house a while and it still hasn't sold. And even though the obviously staged house might indicate they're even more desperate since now they're not only out of the house, but paying someone to fill it for them, it somehow doesn't feel that way when we walk through.
The other reason you might want to stage at least a little bit is to make it easier when viewing photos on the MLS listings. Sometimes it's hard for me to figure out what rooms I'm seeing online when there's no furniture in the room to tell me this is the family room, master bedroom, office, etc. I've noticed I tend to gloss over those listings when I'm browsing. HTH.
Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the helpful insight. After reading these responses, I think I am going to go ahead and go with my instinct and hire a stager. My realtor thinks I should not hire my own stager though. She said that a whole house full of furniture will hide all the cute cahracteristics of the house, crown moulding, etc. That doesn't seem right to me but then again, I am not overwhelmingly impressed with her. As a previous poster pointed out--she wants to put oriental rugs over the hardwoods after all. Off to go find a stager.
Sounds like your instincts are good. This agent appears to not understand staging. Last thing you do is "fill" a room. First stage to emphasize the special features...hardwood...molding...windows...light... warmth.... while adding flow and an inviting feel. The buyer should feel like they want to stay...sit...and enjoy.
We sold our house less than 24 hours on the market at 98.5% asking price, I think we would have gotten more if we hold out for a week, but the offer was already exceed our target price, so we decided to sell so we can get out live back to normal.
We stage the house our self taking some advice and ignore some other from our stager provided to us by our agent.
In total we spend less than 1K mostly on paint and pics. If we let our stager do everything, we would have to pay at least 4K for the first month.
Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the helpful insight. After reading these responses, I think I am going to go ahead and go with my instinct and hire a stager. My realtor thinks I should not hire my own stager though. She said that a whole house full of furniture will hide all the cute cahracteristics of the house, crown moulding, etc. That doesn't seem right to me but then again, I am not overwhelmingly impressed with her. As a previous poster pointed out--she wants to put oriental rugs over the hardwoods after all. Off to go find a stager.
I think if you keep the furnishings simple and tasteful, they won't overwhelm the house's character. I'd try not to go crazy spending too much on the staging, though, as I imagine it can get very expensive. But I'd think it would be worth it for a few months at least, plus you'd have some nice photos for the MLS.
Btw, I'd make sure the MLS description says "hardwood" floors, etc. If I see a photo that looks like hardwood, but the description doesn't mention it, I usually assume it's a laminate or something. Good luck.
Hire your own stager! Get someone who will do it the way you want it done!
And good luck . . . come back and post and let us know what you decided to do . . . and how things turned out. I love to hear the results!!!
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Less is More
I love to hear the results!!!
