Considering Home Staging to Sell Your Home?

So, you're selling your home, or at least considering it. But how do you compete with the rest of the market around you? Pricing? Condition? Listing with an agent that knows how to market your home properly? YES!

For the purposes of this post, we're going to concentrate on the condition of the home...

Why to Consider Staging

As a seller, you want to put yourself in the best position to get buyers' attention and have them perceive a value for your home, in comparison to other homes on the market in the area. A buyer needs to see themselves living in your home. Whether you're currently living in your home or have left it vacant, home staging may be what you need to set your home apart from the rest.

The purpose to home staging is to give your home an updated look, and to give a buyer the ability to see what the home would look like in it's best possible condition. It helps highlight the home's best features, with the goal of appealing to a broad range of buyers, selling faster and for a higher dollar amount. According to statistics from the Accredited Staging Professional website, the success rate (see below) can be quite substantial.


Return on Investment

Costs can vary, depending on the size of the home and how much staging work is done. It can be a few hundred dollars to several thousand, but if it results in a quick sale for top dollar, it may prove to be well worth the investment. According to staging professionals, it can provide a 3-7% higher sales price.

The following is a summary of the results of HomeGain's national survey, based on the ten areas of home improvement identified by real estate agents in HomeGain's survey. They are listed from the highest to lowest returns on investment:


Bottom Line

As I always advise my sellers, if there is something that can place your home above all the rest, it should always be considered. In regards to home staging, if the results and the return on investment can be achieved, it may be a way for a seller to "beat the market" in a time when the market heavily favors the buyer.

Cleveland, Northeast OH Area Real Estate Market July 2014

According to the Northeast Ohio Regional Multiple Listing Service (NORMLS) and an article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper, homes sales in the region increased from June to July. Lower home inventory, higher rental prices and higher buyer demand due to low (but climbing) interest rates, have been driving this increase in activity and increase in sales prices over the past year or so. Sales volume is increasing, and sales prices have shown a slowing increase. A higher inventory in homes for sale would help boost sales activity.
Among the 15 counties in Northeast Ohio, we saw a miniscule 0.11% increase for single family homes and a 3.6% increase for condominiums.  Single family home sales are up 1% from July of last year, while condos sales prices are up 3.9%.  Bear in mind that condo sales are a very small portion of the market.

Ohio's sales volume showed an increase of 1.2% from June to July, but down 1.2% from last year. Ohio's sales prices rose by 3.7%, compared to last July.  National figures have shown a 2.4% increase in sales volume from last month, but down 4.3% from last year.  Meanwhile, national prices have increased 4.9% from last year.  Ohio and Northeast Ohio's price increases have slowed or stabilized recently, but the increases are what would be typically expected for the region when compared with the nation.

Good News: Nationwide, there has been a decline in sales of foreclosures and other distressed properties. Bank owned and distressed properties accounted for only 9% of all sales in July - the lowest level since 2008.

The key point here is that the market is starting to stabilize and shifting to a balanced/seller's market.  Sellers are getting more for their homes than last year, with buyers paying a bit more to purchase a home to take advantage of the low interest rates.  Buyers should note that interest rates have decreased slightly, hovering around 4.2%.  A recent report indicates that economists are projecting rates to rise to 5-5.5% in 2015.

This is a great time for buyers who also have a home to sell, because rates are still relatively low on the buying side, but home values have risen in many areas to improve the financial return on the selling side.  If the economy continues to improve, buyers in the current market will be able to realize value gains for the homes they purchase as well.