I have a lot of sympathy for Professional Home Stagers in my market. We’re very conservative in Northwest Ohio. We don’t spend a dime if we don’t have to. I have had a tough time getting my Sellers to pay for a professional staging consultation even though initially it’s only a $100 fee. So, I started to pay the stager myself for homes I thought were “aesthetically challenged” or any house where the Seller is open to hearing what a Stager has to say. One of these properties was a sweet little condo in a suburban location. I had encouraged the Seller to leave some furniture tastefully arranged. What was left was sort of a hodge-podge and way too crowded.
I hired the Stager to come in and helped move furniture around the living room. She suggested a new floor and countertop for the kitchen. (The old floor was yellowed and the countertop dated.) We were considering a $5,000 price reduction. Instead my Seller invested $3,000 in countertops and floor. The next weekend we hosted an Open House and you guessed it! The week after the Open House, a Buyer stepped forward and wrote us an offer – which was almost immediately accepted!
So, for a small investment a Professional Home Stager can make a huge difference in receiving an offer or receiving an offer MORE than what was anticipated.
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