Recently I was looking at some homes in my area that were for sale in the $700,000 price range. The first house I looked at was obviously staged and I’d have to admit the Stager had done a great job …until I went upstairs.
That is where the staging had come to a complete halt. It was empty. I had the same reaction home buyers will have. I was loving exploring this house; I hadn’t been disappointed with anything I had seen…and then the empty upstairs hit me. I was disappointed. I noticed every place that needed caulk, every stain on the carpet, how bland the bathrooms really were and the bedrooms seemed small. I wondered where the homeowners were and why they had to leave before selling this house. This house became instantly identifiable as a vacant house and that left me knowing there was room to negotiate on price as the seller was probably very motivated to sell. Now this is not to say that when we stage a vacant home people don’t eventually figure out it is vacant…the closets give that away; but it isn’t obvious on first glance. Well staged homes look more expensive; therefore people aren’t as likely to try a low offer. At this price point staging downstairs and not upstairs really missed the mark in my opinion.
