When a home is "staged", it's furnished and decorated in a way that's carefully designed to maximize the home's appeal to prospective buyers.

Our staging increases your sale price and decreases time on market, which translates to decreased carrying costs and less headache. We average a 3% higher sale price for homes under $1M, and 5% higher for homes over $1M. In terms of days on market, we average 40 days faster for all homes, and 3 MONTHS faster for homes over $1M.

Yes, we are a full service staging organization and can provide help for homes that are occupied either for sale or for those who just want to update the look of their property.

Yes, but that would be an interior design project, not a staging project. Staging Design is about SELLING – it appeals to ALL potential home buyers, and is very specifically created to highlight a home’s features in photos and showings. Interior Design is about DWELLING – it focuses on the tastes of one person – normally the occupant and not a potential buyer.

You should evaluate staging for the ROI (Return on Investment) you’ll receive in the same way you evaluate the benefit of updating your kitchen or replacing carpets before listing the home.

Staging is an investment in market preparation that you should recover with a quick offer. A quick offer will save you the carrying cost while the home is for sale, and also avoid a price reduction. Each of those real costs of a slow sale probably exceed your staging investment by a considerable margin. Staging is often tax deductible as well – ask your tax advisor.

This question is best answered by looking at the competition from current, comparable listings in your neighborhood. If comparable homes are staged, then you need to consider staging whether your home is vacant or seller-occupied. If your home has very specific décor or architecture, or if you have large open concept spaces, you should also consider staging since buyers cannot envision what might be, they only see what is.

Homes listing for more than $500K should definitely consider staging since buyers in this range and above have high expectations and will be looking at other listings that are staged. If comparable homes are not staged, but still receive offers within 30 days, you may not need to stage. If comparable un-staged homes are on the market for more than 60 days, you probably should consider staging.

If you are living in the home and want to have a professional stager prepare it for buyer appeal, you should budget at least $1000. If you want the stager to bring in supplemental furnishings to accentuate your furnishings, budget $2500+.

For professional custom staging for 3-4 rooms using the stager’s furnishings with a 60 day initial deployment, budget at least $3700+. Staging costs are dependent on the square footage of areas staged, the rooms that are staged, and the list price of the home.

Expensive homes with 6+ rooms staged can easily cost over $6500. A good rule of thumb for budgeting vacant staging (stager supplies everything) is 0.5% of the list price from a minimum of $3700.

At Showhomes, we strive to stage all homes within a week of signing the services agreement.

Your stagers will need to see the home and prepare a proposal, which may take several days, and once you sign the services agreement they need to create the design, pull the furniture, and arrange the logistics (moving and set up).

Staging within one week of the service agreement should be expected. If you call on Wednesday and want staging by Friday, the answer will be “no” from qualified stagers.

As with any contractor, it’s important to ensure you get quality service, so you want custom staging to help YOUR home sell! Your stager should be able to provide referrals and LOTS of photos of their work in comparable homes. They should be formally trained and accredited by a recognized organization (beware of “weekend stagers” that have one or two housefuls of furnishings they use in every home). A qualified stager will have a formal Services Agreement that specifically states what services they provide and covers unexpected contingencies, and they should be insured in the event of damage or loss (if someone is injured on the job the homeowner may be liable!). Ask about their inventory – a good stager will have a large inventory of on-trend furnishings.