Staging a house when putting it for sale

We have been in our house for almost 4 years. We have spent about 25K-30K in these 4 years making upgrades that you can't see (CAC, blown-in insulation, refinished all original floors, electrical work, etc). We were just getting started on fixing up the inside. We have almost no furniture (unless you could toys, lol) and the house needs to be painted and decorated to look more like a home.

It is very likely that we will be relocating OOS this year and will need to sell our house for as much as possible so that we can get most of our downpayment back (20% of orig purchase price.) We know we won't get back we we put in for upgrades. Since we only have real furniture in 2 bedrooms and the dining room I think it will be harder to sell.

Has anyone had a house at least partially professionally staged? Is it expensive? Can you still live in the house with the "staged" furniture?

Staging a house when putting it for sale

You don't have to have tons of designer furniture to stage a house, IMO. I think the point of staging a house is to allow the prospective seller to see the bones of the house with a bit of added decoration.

I would have a nice deep clean done first. Then, reorganize or declutter as much as you can to keep the living space clear. If you can pain or refresh the walls, I would recommend that. The furniture that you do have, I would make sure it is clean and fresh looking with nice linens or throw pillows. A few decorative wall pieces or little touches will help, like a pretty room diffuser or a nice mirror. New bath towels and a rug or shower curtain will make a big impact.

I would also stick with soft neutral tones, nothing too bright or bold or trendy. I know that professional staging is pretty expensive, so I would hold off on doing that unless you absolutely had to. You can really refresh your house with a just a couple new items and some elbow grease.

I would look at TJ Maxx and Marshalls and Homegoods to start.

Also, I can't remember for the life of me how any house was decorated when we were looking. We focused solely on the structure because all the décor and furniture would change. We ultimately bought an empty house, so I would say less is more, really let the potential buyer see the house with out a lot of stuff.

Re: Staging a house when putting it for sale

I agree, I can't remember furniture and "stuff" in any of the houses we looked at, but I can tell you layouts etc of almost every house. We bought a house that had hot pink and lime green paint in the bedroom and kitchen!

Gl make sure all those upgrades are listed!!

Re: Staging a house when putting it for sale

Please don't go nuts. The house we bought was largely empty and the colors, well..yuck..

We bought it anyway..:)

It sounds like you made some improvements that I would look for in a house.

good luck.

Re: Staging a house when putting it for sale

Don't go completely nuts. I agree that a clean house free of clutter speaks volumes.

Actually the house we ended up buying was empty and not being lived in.

I saw quite a few with greasy food cooking, dirty ashtrays and teeth on the countertop.

SIL just went through this and they painted I think one room, threw up a few pictures/paintings and ended up selling to the 2nd person who came out to look.

The buyer actually had children living on the block so I don't think it ultimately would've mattered much anyways.

Re: Staging a house when putting it for sale

I think buyers tend to lack imagination, so if a house is completely vacant, sometimes it takes a little longer to sell. It tends to have a colder, less homey feel, too.

But if you are living in the house and it's just a matter of not having a ton of furniture or not having every room furnished, then it shouldn't hurt you at all! I agree with others who've said "less is more" with furniture and home décor. Big oversized furniture and a lot of home accessories and artwork can be distracting and overwhelm a room. Spare furniture and uncluttered spaces are the way to go!

Since you are trying to get as much as you can out of the house, I wouldn't spend a lot of money on it now. You never get back what you put in, in terms of $, so I would just try to sell it as is. Have you met with a realtor to get an idea of what you can expect to sell it for "as is"?

Staging can definitely help sell a home, or at least help sell it faster (if not necessarily for more). But you don't necessarily need to do a full professional staging (having them bring in furniture, etc.) which would be pretty costly and probably not worth it for most people, unless the home is a very high end (multimillion dollar) property, which is why it's often seen on shows like "Million Dollar Listing"!

But you COULD consult with a professional home stager (it may be a hundred dollars or so for an hour) and let them tell you what they would recommend... sometimes they can recommend paint colors, placement of furniture that you already have, etc. And it doesn't cost too much, because they are just touring the home and giving recommendations. Whether or not you do the work to implement them is up to you.

Good luck with your sale!