Homes that are staged before listing spend considerably less time on the market before garnering a sale, no matter what the price range. Consider these statistics from the Real Estate Staging Association study conducted in the U.S.A. in 2013:
HOMES IN EXCESS OF $1 MILLION
- Of a total of 82 homes in this category 62 were staged prior to entering the market and sold on average within 38 days.
- The remaining 13 homes, not staged, sat on the market an average of 97 days.
HOMES PRICED BETWEEN $500,000 and $999,999
- 139 staged homes in this group sold within 21 days on average.
- 24 non-staged homes took an average of 140 days to sell.
HOMES PRICED BETWEEN $300,000 and $499,999
- 170 staged homes took an average of 22 days to sell.
- 25 homes not staged sold, on average, at 125 days.
HOMES PRICED BETWEEN $100,000 and $299,999
- 137 staged homes sold within an average of 19 days.
- 20 homes not staged took an average of 127 days to sell.
These are extraordinary statistics. Equally dramatic examples from my own staging experience include a home that sold in 5 days for $10,100 above the asking price, and a home that had an accepted offer in less than a day. I sold my own home through my realtor of trust of course, a modest split entry, during an all-time low in the Halifax, Nova Scotia housing market of 2013, in two days. At the time there were numerous others for sale nearby including a larger two storey with garage on the street behind me. It sat on the market for several months, finally going for just a couple of thousand dollars more than my own. I have no doubt that, if properly staged, it would have sold much quicker and at a price closer to its true value, which was certainly much more than mine.
Obviously there is much more to property sales than simply staging, nonetheless, home staging or the lack thereof, is a common denominator in all of them. They merely serve to highlight the power and importance of professional home staging. Home staging isn’t an expense, it’s an investment, especially when compared with the loss in profit as a result of a price reduction, excessive time on the market or the necessity of holding a second mortgage if you’ve already made the move to your new home before selling your previous one.
