As a REALTOR®, we all know the advantages of home staging and how it can help transform an average interior to something so much more. What can ultimately be achieved is heavily dependent on the property itself, the client and the stated objectives. When you hear a seller say, "why not just sell as is, in this market someone could still pay top dollar". The first part of that statement suggests that the way a seller lives says a great deal about what is likely to be accomplished even with a lot of effort from the stagger. The second part of the statement says so much more that the Seller is likely to be unrealistic in how they see value.
I have had some personal results that even amazed me and while everyone was really pleased, the Seller then suggested that we may be too low priced now that it looks so good and wanted the price increased by a huge margin . This is always this possibility when making a silk purse show piece out of a sows ear.
Then we have the home that is not only poor in design and function but is really worn out and dirty beyond just surface dirt. This one is going to be a tough sell on making improvements simply because the homeowners lives this way and doesn't easily embrace the issue of upgrading and good maintenance. This property is only going to sell to the Buyer that has great upgrade and decorating vision or poor eyesight as the case may be.
Every person that stages understands that there can be limitations in budget but when the limitations also have to include unrealistic expectations, it can lead to unhappy results. Badly stained and soiled carpets can only be cleaned so far, hard surface floors with patterns that are seriously out of date and deteriorated wood cabinets and woodwork from deferred care are just a few of issues have to be considered. But if there is no budget and these obstacles are not overcome, investing too much in staging may not be best answer. Selling the property as a cosmetic fixer might be the best alternative. Pricing it as a fixer will be paramount to selling this and it will probably appeal to the Buyer that has in mind to restore the property or even a flipper who will improve it and put it on the market again.
Creating stagging magic carries a relatively small price but most often pays for itself many times over.
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