Staging a home for sale has become very popular in the last decade. During the recession real estate professionals began to depend heavily on staging to sell their homes. Convinced that the process increased the sales price and reduced the time a home was on the market, real estate professional strongly encouraged sellers to use staging techniques.
As a result home sellers now spend millions of dollars a year supporting the staging industry. Professionals come into homes and help home owners eliminate clutter and add neutral furniture and accessories that are meant to move homes quickly at higher prices. The process can add substantially to the cost of selling a home.
Recently a study drew a controversial synopsis when it concluded that staging does not result in a higher sales price. Home sellers have been told for years that spending money on staging will result in a higher price and a faster sale of their home. Now that assumption is being brought into question.
“People think that staging makes a difference,” says Michael Seiler co-author of the study “The Impact of Staging Conditions on Residential Real Estate Demand.” “What we found out was that from a price perspective, it doesn’t have an impact.” The complete study is due out in the Journal of Real Restate Research later this year.
Based on the results of the new study real estate professionals must use caution when making promises about how staging will benefit the seller. While many Realtors stand by staging and believe it does indeed make a home sell faster, it is difficult to put a finger on how much more the homeowner can expect to gain from the price.
While additional research is sure to come, the staging process needs to establish realistic expectations for the seller. When a consumer goes to sell their home, they put a lot of trust in the real estate professional’s advice and recommendations. This trust puts an extra burden on realtors to make accurate representations and recommendations that will provide sellers with value.
