"Excuse me, but why are you trying to feed your garbage disposal with $1000 bills?"

In Buffalo and Western New York, we are still in a buyer's real estate market, which means competition is fierce!  Add to that the low cost of housing in the area, and it's almost close to dog-eat-dog!  Selling your home can be very stressful without the right tools and knowledge.

So why do people continue to throw their home equity -- thousands of dollars -- into the garbage disposal?  That's essentially what they are doing when they don't stage their home before putting it on the market.

Here's the data, and I will do the math for you!

In Erie County in New York (including the City of Buffalo), the average sale price of a home in 2009 was $136,965.39.  The average LIST price was $142,115.59.  Homes generally sold for 96.38% of their list price, and the average days on the market (DOM) was 60 days (data provided by the Buffalo Niagara Association of REALTORS, Feb. 2010). It's obvious that people priced their homes pretty accurately with the help of their REALTOR. Even so, I would be willing to bet a paycheck that many of these homes involved a price drop of several thousand dollars after the first 30 days on the market.

Additionally, it takes about 90 days to actually close on the house.  Average time from start to finish is 150 days.

That doesn't sound so bad, does it?  Well, let's see: 

$142,115.59 - 136,965.39 = $5150.20. 

A recent Real Estate Staging Association survey found that homes that were staged before going on the market sold 78% faster.  Can you imaging selling your home in just 14 days versus 60?  Even if a home in Erie County or Buffalo, New York sold just 50% (not 78%) faster with home staging, that would save the homeowner even more money (one month fewer expenses).  So:  if your mortgage is about $1500 a month, and carrying costs are $300 a month, the potential savings could potentially be at least an additional $1800.  And that is on a modestly priced "average" Erie County home! 

What if you lived in Clarence or Orchard Park, where the average sale price was around $250,000? Take a look at what you could LOSE (Check the "Difference" column):

 If a homeowner is a Do-It-Yourselfer or is on a budget, a Home Staging Consultation could save them thousands of dollars, and keep those $1000 bills from going down the drain!

Can you truly afford to not stage your home?