to stage or not when selling

[addy1]

For those of you that have sold houses recently.

Would you stage the house?

This is my Arizona house, the renters have wanted to purchase it, we have negotiated for the past 4 years. They were to purchase it this June, we never heard anything. So finally contacted them to see what was happening. They said they could not afford it.

So they are moving and we are selling the house. It will be empty of everything, once they move out, we will be driving over there later this year to see what needs to be taken care of. etc. With a blow up bed and folding chairs.

So to stage we would need to purchase some basic stuff, consignment shops, goodwill etc.
It is a custom home on a acre. 3x's the size of the one we live in.

What would you do?

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Well I have not sold a home recently but I would tend to think that staging would be better especially if you want to get a higher price.

I used to love to watch the shows on TV that would get a house ready for sale and show you before and after. It was an amazing difference and not a lot of money was spent doing it.

 

[Nepen]

My husband is a realtor. It is better to stage the house so that the buyer (most of the time) can picture themselves in the house. if the house is empty, they have to use their own imagination and sometime they couldn't picture it. (especially true to the house with lots of open space or special room/space.)

I helped my husband sold a house once just to be there with my baby, pointing where I would have things for my family to the buyer and sit on the couch while my baby was playing and they made them picture their life and decided to buy the house

 

[sissy]

Empty houses are nice also since you can look past the stuff in the house that other people own so I was on the fence with yes and no.I have sold 4 houses in my past and all i did was depersonalized them .Nothing of mine or the kids in the house just furniture .No decorations at all very bland and plain .First house sold in 2 weeks and was on a busy highway .Second house sold sight unseen and in a month .Sold from pics realtor had taken .Sons house had 4 bids on it first day and mom and dads house sold in 2 months but was totally empty and during a bad market but was in a great neighborhood .So it really depends on the market if the house is clean and updated it will sell fast and neighborhoods matter

 

[Troutredds]

We sold and bought a house, both unstaged, five years ago. I could see the advantage of staging to add appeal in a slower (buyer's) market - but the Seattle area has been a hot seller's market since before the recession. They tend to only stage multi million dollar McMansions here.

 

[addy1]

The phoenix market is up and down, right now swinging more to a sellers market. The house is expensive, the yard big, I just want to attract as many people as possible. Would love a bidding war!

 

[Mmathis]

While it would be nice to see what the house looks like with furnishings, I wouldn't go so far as to "stage" it. If I'm going to look at a house that has furnishings, I would rather those furnishings be what the owners actually lived with day to day -- not some designers idea of what looks nice. My real house never looks that good, LOL!

So, I would go with "no" to staging.

EDITED: However, I would listen to what people have to say that come to see the house. If you get a lot of people who say they could tell more with it furnished, and that's what will end up selling the house.....

 

[addy1]

It won't be a designer, it will be us. When I went to sale it the last time, before the crash, they wanted 3000 a month to stage it.

 

[Mmathis]

It won't be a designer, it will be us. When I went to sale it the last time, before the crash, they wanted 3000 a month to stage it.

Excuse me? Just to stage it? I say go with bare walls & halls, LOL, and spend that money on better things.

 

[addy1]

Yep I was shocked and did not hire the Realtor that requested the staging. They almost demanded staging, saying I would never sell the house without it. Did not matter the market crashed 1 month after I put it up for sale. I yanked it off right away.

 

[sissy]

To me as long as the house is fresh and clean that people would want to see the rooms for what they are .Size always matters in a house and young people these days look for things like the pretty stuff ,like stainless steel or at least new appliances and even like when there is a washer and dryer included and also that house has been well maintained .For a family some times it just comes down to schools and being close to there jobs and shopping .I would rather see a house empty than see a house staged ,I know i am not going to live like that ,my clutter just follows me

 

[Lisak1]

Personally I love a clean slate. If the walls are freshly painted and the floors are newly done, I would be happy. My husband looks for updated furnace, water heater, roof, good windows - the expensive to replace later stuff. I say try it without furniture and see what happens. Save the expense and effort and you can take a few dollars off the sale price.

 

[RobAmy]

I just recently sold my rental house, which was our first home. The tenant was still living there during the listing. So it was staged by default and the pictures looked great on the listing. The house sold in 15 days. When the house was vacant it did not look as good.

 

[addy1]

Wish we could do that, but being 2400 miles away makes it a little difficult. They were not interested in letting us show the house while they were living there. So it will be empty.
This is the front of the house.

 

[Mmathis]

Wow, Addy, that's awesome! Have any pics of the inside?