HUD Articles

STAGING VS. NON-STAGED

We wanted to give you the most convincing proof possible. Many people find it hard to believe that the simple act of staging helps one home sell for more than another, similar home.

In our research, We looked for examples of similar houses being sold for differing amounts of money where only one of the two houses was staged.

The clearest example we could find was in the case of these two listings.

This development has 200 equivalent townhouses.

Every single townhome in the neighborhood is three stories with three bedrooms and three bathrooms. Every unit has the same floor plan.

We looked for two sales there, and found these:

Townhome A sold on August 26.

Townhome B (5 doors down) sold on July 26, for 40,000 dollars less.

We visited this neighborhood, and We are familiar with these properties.

You could not find a better example of two identical properties that sold for different prices.

The details show these two homes are identical in every substantial way:

The lots the units sit on are identical as far as the desirableness of the location.

Both units had the same kitchen plan with the same cabinets and a tile floor.

Both units had nice hardwood floors in the living room and carpeted bedrooms.

Every important detail of these townhouses was identical. We studied every aspect of these sales to find what made the difference.

There are two reasons one home sold for $40,000 more than the other:

Townhome A was professionally staged, giving it a more appealing appearance.

The agent selling Townhome A took higher quality, more attractive photos of the home.

Those two seemingly small actions made the $40,000 difference! The buyers of Townhome A made a higher offer because the agent presented the home in a more appealing and attractive way.