Home Staging Works: Offer Rec'd in One Week at Over Asking Price!

The week before last, I staged a vacant but charming 400 square foot studio in the heart of Manhattan's Greenwich Village.  I had been contacted by the owner who resides out of town that his tenant was moving out and he was putting it on the market. 

He was smart enough to realize that an empty apartment, particularly a studio, doesn't show well.

• Rooms that are empty actually appear smaller than they really are - not a great thing for a studio apartment
• Buyers can't envision where their furniture will go - will this studio have room enough for a table to eat?  A bed and a couch?  A dresser for my clothes?
• Buyers feel no emotional connection when they walk into an empty room
• Buyers focus on small defects like cracks in the wall or scuffed hardwood floors because there's nothing else to look at

In addition to giving him a quote for staging the apartment, I also did a consultation where I advised him to do several things:

• He wanted to paint, but didn't know what color.  So I chose neutral colors for him for the main room, kitchen and bathroom that would warm up the space and go with my planned color scheme.
• I advised him to remove the old broken window blinds, the rod and curtains (which I would replace) and to clean the windows to let in more natural light.
• I advised him to replace the ceiling fixture in the entry way, the countertop in the kitchen, and the faucet in the bathroom.  He only chose to replace the ceiling fixture.
• I also advised him to remove the vinyl flooring in the kitchen and use inexpensive stick-on vinyl "tiles" but he chose to have the floor cleaned rather than replaced.

So, after his updates and repairs (which also included re-tiling the bathtub area), I brought in contemporary-looking rental furniture and my own decorative accessories in a black, cream and red color scheme in order to appeal to a young, single buyer as this would be his most likely candidate. 

Two days after the staging was completed, he received an offer.

Four days after the staging, he received another offer.

Then, one week to the day of staging, he received an offer OVER his asking price!

Yes, his asking price was reasonable and this is very important (see my Blog "Home Staging: One Leg of a Three Legged Stool).  However, the combination of a reasonable asking price, the staging and a real estate agent who began to promptly show the finished apartment (the three legs), all led to a successful and pleasing outcome.

Here are the Before and After photos showing the transformation: