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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Our house was painted (we paid for this) where it hadn’t been painted in a while, we removed all extra furniture, pulled out the ugly ikea furniture to put in a generic sofa, pillows,  took down family pictures and put up generic canvas art, removed tchotchkes except for a smattering, and put white fluffy towels where our beige ones had been. We had very nice pictures done including dusk shots of the beautiful outside space that’s really our biggest selling factor (we are in a meh neighborhood). It was very light staging, our realtor did it as part of her fee (FWIW our house was fairly nicely updated in most rooms for the neighborhood), and it sold over asking in the first 48 hours. It was purchased by someone looking online only. So I would say in our case it was worth it. Our house looked amazing in the pictures. It looked nice in person, too. Other homes in our neighborhood have been sitting longer.[/quote]

It sounds like you did 90% of the work decluttering, getting it painted, and getting fluffy new towels and sofa pillows. Moreover, it's not really "staging" if you don't put all/most of your furniture in storage and bring in the realtor's (or their contractor's) furniture. Most of this--taking down family photos, new towels, painting--is stuff sellers like our parents have been doing forever. Apart from arranging the photos, what exactly did the realtor do?[/quote]

The realtor gave us the list of items to remove/fix/repair/paint, organized their mover to come and pick up the extra furniture to storage/move in their furniture, picked paint colors, arranged/scheduled the painters, picked the carpet/kitchen flooring (forgot we did this!), arranged the installation of flooring, and provided all of the accessories, art, pillows, towels, area rugs, lamps, and furniture. They also came and arranged those things before pictures were taken. My realtor also hosted two open houses personally.[/quote]

OK. But most of this isn't "staging," it's simply fixing up your house for sale. All of us do it anyway. It's what our parents did when they sold their houses--they painted, they decluttered, they rented a storage unit for all the stuff. You make the house look as nice as possible--this is different from staging.

I can see hiring the realtor to do these fixing-up and decluttering tasks because it takes a lot of the logistics off of you. But know that you're paying more if you go through a middleman (the realtor) and use their contractors. For example, if the realtor recommends paint colors, that's great, but your own painter will probably do it more cheaply than paying a middleman (your realtor) to call up their own painters (who won't give you the long-term customer discount we always get from the painters we always use). When we sold our starter house, we rented a storage unit and DH and his friends moved our extra furniture in temporarily. Installing new kitchen flooring sounds extra and does requires professionals, but again you don't need to pay a middleman (your realtor) to text their flooring contractor.

Actual "staging" is the part where they move out your furniture and put in beige, white and grey furniture. It sounds like they gave you a few pieces, like a sofa and some throw pillows?

Impressed that your realtor hosted two open houses personally, though. Ours hosted one (makes me wonder about how your realtor priced your house, but that's a different topic), but it sounds like lots of realtors just send a trainee to sit in your house during the open house.[/quote]

That's not true about the contractors at all. My contractor does an amazing job and gives my clients a very reasonable rate bc I give him lots of business. He is competent and reliable so I always know that the work will be completed in time for professional photographers to come in. And, most of the time, unless your realtor is doing huge business, he/she will be doing the open. If they are not, you probably picked the wrong agent. [/quote]

So now "staging" also means bringing in the realtor's contractors to paint or whatever fixes you're recommending be done? Do you know how shady this sounds?  Also, some of us have long-term relationships with painters and handymen who take care of us for a good price and quickly.[/quote]

Trying to help your client is shady huh? Did you forget to take your meds today? If you have a relationship with a contractor, great. Use him. Many people dont. [/quote]

Yes, finding a bunch of things "wrong" with somebody's house and referring them to your own contractor for fixing is shady. Take your own meds (or find an insult that's not from 2010).

Most home owners have contractors. But if they don't, better would be to provide a list of contractors they could choose from.[/quote]

DP.

I don't think "most" homeowners have their own contractors.  We do; however, I believe we're in the minority judging from the number of calls I get from friends and acquaintances wanting to know whom to call.  There is no reason for a realtor to provide a range of contractors.  If you want to use your own, then you're free to do so.

Your posts on this make you sound unknolwedgeable and, frankly, pretty paranoid.  If you won't trust your realtor on contractors, then why on earth are you trusting them with one of the largest transactions you'll ever make?  You are not making any sense.[/quote]

You can call me names like paranoid and unknowledgeable, but I actually have a finance degree. This kind of incestuous self-dealing is ripe for kickbacks and so on, and it's something people are well advised to stay far, far away from.

Yes, I trust my realtor to do the contract. But somebody who wants to sell me services from their stager and contractors, not so much. [/quote]

LOL.  A "finance degree."  Thanks for the full-on belly laugh!  [/quote]

Have you ever heard the words "conflict of interest" or "self-dealing"? Someone should shut that sh!t down. [/quote]

DP. I agree with you that there’s a huge conflict of interest, but not necessarily that the recommended contractors will give or get a kick-back. It’s that agents have misaligned incentives - they don’t care if the seller spends a lot of money they won’t recoup in sales price because it’s not their money. Any increase in sales price benefits the agent. In addition the sellers agent doesn’t care if the seller gets sued for concealed defects. We have a bathroom with a leak that needs to be repaired and the seller’s agent tried to tell me we could just caulk and regrout and replace the water-stained drywall. [/quote]

This is a major issue that most people don't see, although kickbacks are a very real thing too. The realtor doesn't care if you spend $40K of your own money to net $6K more (at a loss of $36K of your own money). It makes it easier for her to sell your house quickly and get her check.

To answer OP's question, it really depends on the home and the furnishings you already have. The last home we sold off market. Didn't do a thing and still got top dollar. The home before that, we fixed anything missing or broken (finally replaced a cabinet handle, repaired some flashing, etc.) and painted any rooms that were specific colors. We had already moved into the new home so we just left some sofas and stuff for staging. Did that trick of putting large boxes with an air mattress and made the "bed" for kids rooms. Bought some pillows, artwork, and other accessories from HomeGoods. You don't need to fully furnish a home, but yes I think some light staging makes a difference for most homes. [/quote]

At a loss of $34K - sorry :)[/quote]

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