By Pam Christensen
In this market that is the question, right? We do have a hot market there is no debate on that, but even in a hot market, the return on investment for Staging is huge! You may have heard me speak at the meetings and talk about our statistics; we staged 300 homes last year with an average time on market of 8 days, and our homes sold for an average of $30,000 over asking price. Those statistics speak for themselves. But I really got a rude awakening the other day when I casually started searching through Redfin to see what was available in the North Seattle, South Snohomish County area. I gotta tell you I felt like I have been living a very sheltered life! I work with some of the best investors in the Puget Sound area, and my clients use quality finishes that fit the price point and style of the home. They understand that from a business
standpoint having quality finishes is not enough to get top dollar for their homes. They also need to have the home professionally staged and have quality professional photography to make the difference between a home that sells at or above asking, and the home that is gone before the ink is dry on the For Sale Sign. So, when I looked through the photos of the listings in my area I was a little shocked at what I found! I looked at homes in all price ranges. The homes that stood out were tastefully staged and had been on the market for 10 days or less. I think there were 3 or 4 that met this criterion. The rest had tired wallpaper, and clutter. Some were sadly staged with furnishings that looked like pieces the homeowner left behind as they didn’t want them in their new home or the house was so cluttered that it was hard even for me to see through the clutter to the bones of the home. Some of the listings only offered one picture, and it was no surprise to see that those listings had been up for 100 to 200 days. I perused through shots of homes listed for $600 to $800 thousand with purple walls and pink wall paper. It made me feel sad for the sellers and the listing agents as I know with a little TLC and staging, these houses would be under contract and starting a new life with a new family.
The National Association of Realtors just released the results of a new survey on the value of staging a home. It’s not a surprise that the survey found that 50% of the staged homes sold for 1% to 10% over asking price nationwide. I am including the results of the survey in this article for your info.
I’d like to thank all of my clients for caring and creating a quality product for their buyers and for choosing us to help you sell quickly. I have so much respect and admiration for the work that you all do!! I’ll be leaving for Las Vegas Saturday morning to spend a few days at the winter furniture market to see what the new trends are in furniture, upholstery, and art and I will share what I find with you in my article next month. I may even get to meet and rub elbows with the Property Brothers! I also wanted to let you know that we can now offer staging services in Gig
Harbor, Bremerton, Port Orchard and Poulsbo. I am so excited to be able to service that part of Pierce County. Please visit my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/stagingforcharisma and post a comment. I’d love to hear your questions or challenges, if I don’t know the answer I’ll find an expert who does!
About the author...
Pam Christensen specializes in working with investors to help them maximize their return on investment by providing high-quality staging that gets results! Pam Christensen, CREI, ASPM, Staging for Charisma, LLC
www.stagingforcharisma.com
www.facebook.com/stagingforcharisma.com
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