Do The Math

It's often difficult for home sellers to swallow the cost of home staging of a vacant property. It's labor intensive for a stager so the one-time staging fee can run anywhere from $700-1500 depending on the size of the property, the number of rooms being staged, price range and location of the home. There's an additional cost for rental of furnishings and accessories that is incurred monthly, usually several hundred dollars. I'd say the average investment my clients make for staging a vacant home for three months is less than $2500.

Don't say 'ouch' until you consider the information found in this article in Realtor Magazine (taken from an AP source. "Maintaining Vacant Property Can Be Expensive" is typical for sellers who need to leave a home before its sold. Add the monthly cost of the mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities, lawn care and mainenance. Odds are it adds up to at least the same amount as a 3-month investment in professional staging.

Based on current statistics from RESA and Staged Homes com, properties that are professionally staged are selling in around 30 days. The seller in the article had carried his property for nearly 2 years! Had he staged prior to listing, odds are very good that the house would have sold long ago (provided it was priced right). Hypothetically, if his home sold just two month sooner, he would have recouped more than his initial investment. Say the staged home sold in the average DOM we're seeing for professionally staged homes today...32...This seller would have saved himself over $26,000!!!! I'm no financier or mathmetician :>) , but that's a return of 10 times his original investment. "Money Saved is Money Earned" goes the old adage. In this buyers’ market where price and presentation are king, sellers can't really afford not to stage.

You're invited to follow the blog of the Mid-Valley Professional Stagers to get better acquainted with first-rate, professional stagers serving Oregon's Real Estate Community.