OOPS I DID IT AGAIN! I just got a call from  a Realtor that a home we did a consult for just sold in 7 days for $12,00 over asking!! Take that stat to the bank!

 And today another one! Client's home was on the market for 7 months. After a staging consultation they relisted it and one week later had 2 offers!

Does staging really work? In one word, YES!

This may be the most common question I am asked when I work with Realtors and home sellers. As stagers we are not selling a tangible product that the client can examine and decide to purchase. We have to encourage clients to use staging though looking at our portfolio and reading our client testimonials.  Over the past three years I have not been diligent about collecting statistics, however this Summer I am really making an effort to post them since the RE market in our area is slow and people are concerned about the sale of their home. I find that these staging statistics really show clients that staging does work.

My latest staging success was a surprise even to me- not because I did not think the home would sell but because the family I was helping had 2 children and they were pregnant with a third and putting the home on the market 2 weeks after the baby was born!

I met with this family in April as they were getting ready to put their home on the market. They had researched staging and wanted to meet with me to get some great idea on how to market their home. I gave them a consultation for $300. I met with them for an hour and walked through their home giving them ideas on how to enhance their home's selling features. This included advice about what to pack up or declutter, how to arrange the furniture, what colors to paint the walls, what minor repairs needed to be made and general advice about how to make the home look more inviting. I also addressed some curb appeal issues and made suggestions for some landscaping to be done in front of the house to make it more welcoming. I then completed a written report for them and checked in with them via email from time to time waiting for them to ask me to come back and fine tune their work.

 When I went back on Friday they had some exciting news for me- they had decided to put the home on the market the previous Sunday. It was the week of fourth of July and they did not expect much activity but did not want to miss any more time. When I got there they told me that the home had ALREADY SOLD while their Realtor was away on vacation! They had 4 showings, received 2 offers ABOVE ASKING and were waiting for a counter offer from one of the buyers.

I was so thrilled for them and so amazed at all they had accomplished. They did an outstanding job decluttering, rearranging the spaces, painting some heavy traffic areas and doing the minor landscaping. The only dilemma now was where to move!

I post these stories to encourage Realtors and home sellers to use staging as a means to market their properties. The only investment the client made was the $300 for my time, the cost of the paint and landscaping and the investment of their time and effort getting the home ready.

 So take a look at my updated stats. These homes were staged in Chester County, Delaware County, Philadelphia County and Montgomery County Pennsylvania.  All of these home sellers invested $300 on a consultation and got amazing results:

Devon Road, Paoli, PA  - sold in 1 day

Anthony Wayne Drive, Wayne, PA- sold in 1 day

Persimmon Drive, Collegeville, PA- sold in 1 day

Crosshill Rd., Royersford PA- sold in 1 week

Ardmore Ave, Haverford PA- sold in 2 days

Crestline Road, Wayne PA- sold in 1 day

Ravenscliff Road, Wayne PA- sold in 2 days

Painter Road, Media PA- sold in 2 weeks after 6 months on the market prestaging

Malvern Road, Plymouth Meeting PA- sold in 4 showings with 2 full price offers.

Second Avenue, Mayfair,Philadelphia County PA- sold in 7 days for $12,00 over asking.

Myrtle Lane, Havertown PA, before staging 7 months on the market, after staging 2 offers in one week.