Is staging an occupied home necessary?

[Anonymous]

We just removed some of the furniture so it looked less crowded. When rooms are full of furniture, even nice, well-placed furniture, it can look smaller than it actually is.

[Anonymous]

No need to stage and definitely no need to pay thousands. Clean and declutter. I prefer to view a house set up to be functional for a family. Stagers often remove way too much to make rooms look bigger.

I want to see a tv in the family room and dressers in the bedrooms. It helps us visualize our own furniture set up and placement.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op again.

Btw, the stager’s assistant who I was talking to yesterday was shocked that we had been quoted 16k to stage our home. She thought a max of 6K including changing out lights (that was not included in our quote and cost around 1k). Our realtor said an average of 3-5K. When we turned her down, she said she had made a mistake in the quote, but had declined to answer my earlier question about it. I don’t know her or what was going on! It felt like a money grab to me.

I work for a staging company. There is NO WAY to justify a 15K quote to stage an occupied house. A vacant house with tons of furniture is most often at or around $4000.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op again.

Btw, the stager’s assistant who I was talking to yesterday was shocked that we had been quoted 16k to stage our home. She thought a max of 6K including changing out lights (that was not included in our quote and cost around 1k). Our realtor said an average of 3-5K. When we turned her down, she said she had made a mistake in the quote, but had declined to answer my earlier question about it. I don’t know her or what was going on! It felt like a money grab to me.

I work for a staging company. There is NO WAY to justify a 15K quote to stage an occupied house. A vacant house with tons of furniture is most often at or around $4000.

What is the term for that rate, i.e., how long does the staging stay in the house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op again.

Btw, the stager’s assistant who I was talking to yesterday was shocked that we had been quoted 16k to stage our home. She thought a max of 6K including changing out lights (that was not included in our quote and cost around 1k). Our realtor said an average of 3-5K. When we turned her down, she said she had made a mistake in the quote, but had declined to answer my earlier question about it. I don’t know her or what was going on! It felt like a money grab to me.

I work for a staging company. There is NO WAY to justify a 15K quote to stage an occupied house. A vacant house with tons of furniture is most often at or around $4000.

Op here. Thank you for this.

[Anonymous]

Our stager came in and used what we had. It looked way better afterwards). Mainly she had us remove things. She also moved mirrors and then did have us purchase a few things (mainly pillows for bed staging). She spent a couple hours going through each room and giving us a to-do list.
$15k is insanity.

[Anonymous]

Your home probably looks lovely w/all the things that you have already done to it.
It appears that you made an effort to present your home in the best way possible! 😃
I would only use a stager if no one places an offer in the next few weeks!

I wish you all the best in selling your home! 🏡

[Anonymous]

OI think staging makes a difference to many buyers.

I think staged homes give prospective buyers an optimal idea of just how good the house can look w/a bit of creativity.

I like to personally get an idea if a queen bed can fit in a bedroom or not.

I like the idea of asking a friend w/good, decorative taste to look around your home and offer suggestions on how it is decorated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. If you want to get top dollar, and the realtor tells you to stage, do it. Your taste in decor is not as nice as you think.

For 15K? Is realtor replacing their entire furniture and essentially "moving" the owner out? My friends sold a house and had partial staging. Realtor brought a few smaller furniture pieces for accenting, and some art work, also moved some of their existing furniture around and had them sell some pieces (they were already going to get rid of most of it, so was no loss).

I am guessing realtor is buying high end furniture, having the seller finance it and later going to use it for personal use
If I have to spend 15K on furniture, I am going to keep it for myself, not "rent" it as part of staging. What a waste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OI think staging makes a difference to many buyers.

I think staged homes give prospective buyers an optimal idea of just how good the house can look w/a bit of creativity.

I like to personally get an idea if a queen bed can fit in a bedroom or not.

I like the idea of asking a friend w/good, decorative taste to look around your home and offer suggestions on how it is decorated.

That's what virtual staging is for, that can be done for cheap in addition to having owners furniture pieces with some input from the realtor when it comes to home tours. But I've seen a lot of listings where there are photos of original owners furniture, and also these same spaces virtually staged to help buyers re-imagine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our stager came in and used what we had. It looked way better afterwards). Mainly she had us remove things. She also moved mirrors and then did have us purchase a few things (mainly pillows for bed staging). She spent a couple hours going through each room and giving us a to-do list.
$15k is insanity.

This is what my friends did. They were downsizing and were going to sell a lot of their furniture. The realtor guided them what pieces to sell and to keep in order to showcase the house better. Also brought some small extra pieces and some artwork to give it that staged look. I don't believe she even charged them extra or that much extra, she did this as part of getting their business and commission.

[Anonymous]

There are stagers who will come to your house and offer suggestions on what to move around/remove - you could consider doing something like that. It's only $150 or so for an hour of their time.

[Anonymous]

We've used two realtors and both of them included staging as part of their commission.

[Anonymous]

Our home sold for $50K above list with partial staging. They staged our first floor and basement and left the bedrooms empty. I think this was strategic because the bedrooms were tiny.