Pay for Home Staging or Upgrades?
I thin
k this question goes through investors or home owners heads quite often when they’re looking to sell. They understand the resale value that certain upgrades can bring, but they also know the power of home staging. Can home staging detract from the fact that certain upgrades weren’t done? What’s a seller to do? Should you pay for home staging or upgrades?
Every home staging consultation and situation is different so there’s no black and white answer to this question. But recently, I was put in this situation with an investor. They had purchased a home in foreclosure, sight unseen. It was in community on a golf course. Prices ranged from 600k to to 850k. This investor wanted to get around 700k. Before I even walked into the home, I had an idea of what needed to be done staging wise.
That completely changed when I walked into the home. I was introduced to a leaking wall of windows (severity of the issue unknown), linoleum (ugh!), a builders grade kitchen and builders grade bathroom. There was no amount of staging that could be done to deter the fact that this was not the 700k home the investor wanted to get.
Immediately, they wanted to know which rooms to stage. I had to be honest. I said your best investment would be to put your money into replacing the linoleum with hardwood, updating the master bath to something other than building grade tile and fixing the leaking wall. No amount of staging was going to convince a buyer to spend close to 700k on this house, especially with a known leaking issue.
I will always give my best advice when it comes to staging a property or not. Deciding on whether to pay for home staging or upgrades should be done on a case by case basis. If you want to sell at a higher price, get new flooring, not new furniture.
For advice on paying for home staging or upgrades, contact Six Twenty Designs and book your home staging consultation today.
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