Home Staging Can Boost Selling Price

According to the National Association of Realtors’ 2015 Profile of Home Staging, 49 percent of buyers who work with Realtors agree that staging “usually” influences the buyer’s view of the home; and 47 percent believe it has an effect on buyer perceptions only “sometimes.” Realtors say staging helps buyers visualize themselves living in the house (81 percent) and make them more willing to tour a home that they initially spotted online (46 percent). Forty-five percent of Realtors believe staging positively impacts the home value if the decorating suits the buyer’s taste, and 10 percent say it negatively impacts the value if it does not. Of those Realtors working with sellers, 34 percent stage all of their listings, 13 percent only stage hard-to-sell homes, and 4 percent only stage upscale properties. Thirty-seven percent of Realtors working with sellers and 32 percent of those working with buyers say staging boosts buyers’ perceptions of home value by 1 percent to 5 percent, while 22 percent of Realtors working with sellers and 16 percent working with buyers peg the increase at 6 percent to 10 percent. “Staging isn’t used by every Realtor in every situation, but the impact it may have and the value it can bring is clear to both home buyers and sellers,” says NAR President Chris Polychron. | Read More