Why Should You Bother Staging Your Home?

The Denver real estate market has seen alot of changes in the last two years. Sellers saw tough competition as short sales and foreclosures dominated parts of the Denver Metro area.  Throughout 2009, a declining number of sales continued to affect not only real estate in Denver, but across the nation.  Still there were a number of homes in Denver that faired well.  For Sellers who wanted to sell quickly and at top dollar, the answer was staging.   

In February of 2010, the Real Estate Staging Association or RESA®, released a report that, once again, revealed how staging impacts home sales.  RESA® staged homes, both vacant and occupied, that had been previously on the market without a sale.  In 87 vacant properties that had already been on the market for an average of 277 days, RESA® staged and re-listed these homes and sold them in an average of 63 days.  That’s a difference of 214 days or 78% less time on the market.  In 39 occupied properties previously on the market for an average of 233 days , RESA® staged and re-listed these homes and sold them in an average of 53 days, a difference of 180 days!  The final chart of previously listed homes includes both the same vacant and occupied properties for a total of 126 properties.  Combining these two data sets shows that the homes were on the market for an average of 263 without a sale prior to being staged.  Once these homes were staged and re-listed the homes sold within an average of 60 days on the market. 

RESA® then staged a series of homes prior to putting them up for sale.  In 2009 the nation saw declining numbers in the number of home sales. The studies again show that staging has a significant impact on the number of days it takes for a home to sell.  You will note from both sets of studies that vacant homes tend to have a longer average days on market than occupied properties. 

Professional staging can be expensive.  But when you consider the savings in selling your home in less than 2 months vs 6 to 9 months or more, it becomes fairly evident that the cost involved in staging your home is money well spent.