Cost of Home Staging – Is Always Less Than First Price Reduction, price reductions run between $5000 and upwards. Many home staging tasks like cleaning and de cluttering are free and only require a bit of elbow grease. Good news, these improvements will return the largest return on investment. Other improvements will require an out of pocket investment but make a huge difference in how your home will appeal to homebuyers.
There is no set answer on how much to invest in the staging process it will depend on the condition of your home. A good rule of thumb is to expect to spend about 1%-3% of the value of your home on staging. You will invest considerably less If your home is in good repair and updated with the desires of a homebuyers heart. Whatever investment you make in effort or money, will easily add to your return on investment in the asking price.
When a home sits on the market a price reduction typically occurs. When you calculate the cost of the price reduction think in terms of the investment lost by not making the investment into home appeal upfront. Bare in mind that homebuyers will spend more money for a house that is move in ready. As I had mentioned in my previous posts, homebuyers want new and updated for the usual financial reasons.
According to the National Association of Realtors your best return on investment spent on home staging will occur between 1% and 3% of the asking price of your home. That upfront investment may get a larger return in thousands of dollars in equity when your home sells.
Remember when you are considering your budget, be creative in your thinking, you don’t always have to spend a lot of money to make your home appealing to homebuyers. Home staging allows you the flexibility to figure out inexpensive and creative solutions to cut costs of preparing your home for sale.
Visual home staging tricks for making spaces appear larger provide the perception of more space equalling more square footage and a bigger home. The perception of making your home feel newer, fresher and up to date will give homebuyers piece of mind that they won’t have to consider future investments.
Perception is everything, how you wrap your home up in a pretty little package and merchandise it to homebuyers. Think outside the box, use what you have differntly, borrow and be a bargain hunter to create lifestyle benefits that buyers are looking for. Yep, be prepared to spend some money for staging, but think of alternatives to get the job done.
The faster you sell the less likely you will have to reduce the price. Remember buyers want move in ready, your upfront investments will more than likely pay for itself by not having to reduce your asking price or accept lowball offers. Remember “you never get a second chance to make a first impression”.
When putting together your budget be mindful of what is critical and most important to your sale and what is optional. Some rooms are more important than others, those are the rooms you will want to put your investment of money and time into.
Recap:
The cost of home staging is less than your first price reduction
Expect to invest 1-3 percent to reap additional gains in you ur return on investment
Refer back to previous posts on cost vs value
Studies show the longer your home is on market it is more likely there will be price reductions.
