How much you can spend on Improvements and Staging when you are ready to sell?

How much you can spend on Improvements and Staging when you are ready to sell?

I wrote a blog Your listing price is already below the market value and no offers. What do you do? and one of the comments that didn't agree was from Maureen Bray , the best Stager in Portland, OR US and Canada. She said:

“I hope you don't mind me mentioning it, but there is just one statement in your post thatI don't agree with: "Put your house back on the market & increase the asking price to cover repairs, upgrades, and staging expenses." Most Realtors will tell you that the asking price has nothing to do with the cost of repairs, upgrades & staging; rather it's based on what a normal buyer is willing to pay for a comparable home in a comparable neighborhood. “

I’d also like to say that your house is not different from any other house on your street. It may be special to you but to the buyer it is just another product to look at during their house hunting.

Maureen’s comment made me think about how to determine the amount seller can spend when will prepare their home for sale.

The first step is to talk to your local Realtor and find out comps. The CMA report will help to understand the lowest and highest price per sq. ft in your neighborhood.

If you don’t want to waste your time and want to sell “as is”, just price your home at the lowest price level according to your comps. Be prepared for a price negotiation if inspection report will show significant issues. You should know that in this case only home flippers or people with imagination will buy your home. All other 90% of buyers will go to the next listing.

If you want more for your house and higher traffic of buyers who will be interested in, please consider reasonable updates, repairs and Staging of you home. This will no doubt help you to sell faster.

Now you should analyze a margin between lowest and highest price per sq. ft in your area.

Let’s say you have a 2000 sq.ft home and comps run from $80 to $90 per sq ft. that means that if you take your “as is” home and invest in improvements and Staging you can list it maximum at 90 per sq.ft based on homes that have been sold in your area. Now we see the difference between lowest and highest price it is 20K. It is obvious that spending of $20K plus your time doesn’t make much sense because you have easiest way out that we discussed above.

Now we came up to the important part. You need to spend as less as you can for the maximum impact?

Your next step is to talk to your local Home Stager who will give you an advice on where to save and what priorities to set up.

You need to start with what will not cost you any money, only your time. De-personazile, open up the space, clean, pack away extra stuff.

Now think about reasonable updates.

Let’s take a look at the house with a dated kitchen. You will think that changing counter tops is the best way, but he most economical way to improve your kitchen is painting cabinets and adding slick hardware, you can reserve some money for Staging which is more important in this situation. (On theis picture the owner spent extra $50 and pained conters so they look like granit)

Moving further to the bathroom, that sells the homes as well. You buyers maybe want a new tile but fresh coat of paint +new shower curtain +staging accessories will make better impact than an updated sterile bathroom.

Let’s talk about bedroom. New carpet is a good idea, but professional carpet cleanning can save you money and adding right furniture pieces and staging accessories will win the buyers heart.

I think you’ve got the idea! What ever you budget is Make Staging fit in it. Buyer set up certain goal but buys on emotions.

So How much you can spend on improvements and Staging when you are ready to sell?

You have two people you should trust when calculating the cost your Realtor and your Stager.

Listen and analyze.

Preparing you home for sale is your best short term investment and getting the most out of it is your goal.