Is Home Staging Worth It?

You’ve finally made the decision: you are putting your home up for sale. Now, the uncertainty sets in. What is all of this going to cost me? Who should I hire as a broker? What is my home worth? How quickly can I get my equity out?

These considerations can be daunting, and believe me, I was in your shoes not too long ago. I put my condo up for sale one year ago in February 2022. I had made the decision, but I was not too prepared for everything involved at that time. Thankfully, my agent (shameless plug for Rob Yoshimura at Compass), advised my on all of the necessary items to get my property ready for sale. Obviously, I was keen to home staging, having owned this business for a couple years. I was not aware of the additional repairs needed to get my home in pristine shape to market to the best buyers possible.

We invested in cleaning, painting, refinishing the wood floors, and you guessed it, home staging. Going into my initial discussions, I had a price in my head of what my condo would go for. My agent advised that if we made these investments, my home would go for $30k more than what I had originally thought! I was somewhat skeptical, but trusted Rob, and I’m sure glad I did because we ended up getting the price he originally mentioned.

The cleaning kept my place in pristine shape and smells from my dishes out. The painting brought more light into the unit. The refinished floors made my place look brand spanking new. The home staging tapped into the psychology of buyers to sell a luxurious lifestyle, and laid out the floor plan perfectly.

Let’s do some math: I invested ~$9,000 for these updates, and generated a $30,000 increase in sale price. That’s a 230% return on my investment! At the end of the day, I was pleased with the result and now use this case study to show potential clients the results you can expect. Don’t be a cheap-o and use your head. Invest in home staging.