How far should we go with staging?

9 years ago

Ok, sorry in advance for the long backstory. Last fall we put our house on the market. It sold within days of listing (first showing). Closing date was set for late November. As we got closer to the closing date (and already sailed through inspection, appraisal, etc), we started purging stuff and selling furniture that we knew would not work in our new home. Two weeks before closing, and literally days after selling all our furniture, our buyers backed out. With the timing of it (right before holidays), we decided to let go of the new house (which was contingent upon the closing of ours), regroup, and list again this spring.

So here we are, with plans to go back on the market in a few weeks, and our house doesn't look nearly as good as it did when it was so nicely staged in the fall. Our dining room and office are both now empty (the first two rooms when you come in the house), because we sold our dining set and desk. Our living room is mostly empty because we sold the couch and chairs and donated our rug. A lot of our art work on the walls is gone. Basically the only nicely staged rooms at this point are the bedrooms, kitchen, bathrooms and the downstairs family room.

We do still have all the listing photos they took in September, along with a virtual tour of the home when it was nicely furnished and staged. The thought of spending a bunch of money to stage it again is not appealing to us, but if it makes a big difference, we need to do something. But how far do we go with staging? Where is it most important to have furniture? Or can we just leave rooms clean and empty and hope that potential buyers get a better impression from the pictures and virtual tour? I have had some people tell me that our market here is so hot that it doesn't matter, but I am also aware that first impressions can make a difference. I am mainly concerned about buyers walking into the house and being greeted by empty rooms on all sides. Currently our office is full of moving boxes. :-/

Featured Answer

ncrealestateguy

9 years ago

If it sold within days to the first buyer the first time, I would not bother staging it.

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Comments (8)

eld6161
9 years ago
I agree. And, you have all the old photos to show.

I have noticed that some agents are doing virtual decorating. The home is empty and they show the room as is. Then they virtually put in furniture to show how the room would look in relation to it furnished. Interesting idea.

This is what you would be doing when sharing your photos.
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User
9 years ago
Clean and empty, with any leaks and squeaks fixed.
CLC thanked User
CLC
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you for the replies! Much appreciated.

I spoke with our agent again this morning, and he echoed the same......he told me to make sure things are clean and tidy and not to worry about trying to stage it as it was. His main recommendation was to get the moving boxes out of the living areas, which we plan to do. We have new-ish wood floors and freshly painted rooms throughout, so the empty rooms should still show nicely.

It is nice to hear from others on here that this approach shouldn't hurt us. Weight off my shoulders, too!
sarahsocal
9 years ago
Our issue was a bit different but still a bit similar.

We sold a prior home a couple of years ago. We had the ability to move out prior to listing (didn't want to have to deal with showing, especially in light of our high maintenance pets).

What we did was pretty the place up before we moved - we then took a ton of pictures while it was still furnished. We then moved out and listed the house using the pictures. But the house was empty when people came to see it.

I am sure that there are reasons NOT to do this, but honestly, it worked great for us.

Perhaps you could use the old pictures to help show people how it looked all prettied up?
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ncrealestateguy
9 years ago
Using some of the Before pictures is a good idea.
Denita
9 years ago
There are professional photographers that can "virtually stage" your photos if you don't have good photographs from before. I agree with your Realtor and the others here: take the boxes out but have it cleaned and repaired. If you find that people can't see the dimensions of the room, use the virtual staging photos.
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freeoscar
9 years ago
Flippers, who are all about getting the maximum return on their $ spent, almost always stage a home. So consider that when you are evaluating purchasing the services of a staging company.