Staged Homes Sell 78% Faster According to RESA

The Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) just released the 2009 Staging Statistics Report. RESA found that last year staged homes spent 78% less time on the market. To a seller this means you save thousands for every month your house is not on the market, and it means the stress of living with a house on the market is much shorter. These are just a few of the benefits of staging and they can really add a lot of money to your bottom line.

Here is just some of the information contained in the report.

The study includes 87 vacant homes (not staged) previously on the market an average of 277 days unsold. Those homeowners had their properties staged. Those same homes sold in 63 days on average after staging. This is 78% less time on the market.
The study includes 39 occupied homes (not staged) previously on the market an average of 233 days unsold. Those homeowners had their properties staged. Those same homes sold in 53 days on average after staging. This is 78% less time on the market.The report goes on to talk about just how much money a homeowner actually saves by staging.

Our study shows 126 homeowners had their property on the market on average of 263 days before they decided to stage. 263 days = 9 months!!!
Our study also shows 284 homes that were staged before they went on the market and they sold on average in 40.5 days. This is approximately 223 days less time on the market.
223 days = 7 months
As an example, using this formula you can determine approximately how much money you will continue to spend while your home is on the market un-staged.

If your mortgage is : $1800.00
If your direct expenses are: $300.00                                     
Total carrying cost per month: $2,100.00
Our study shows home owners had their property on the market for an average of 9 months. $2,100.00 X 9 months = $18,900.00 in expenses.Had those homeowners staged first, their time on market would have been cut by 223 days on average (7 months). $2,100.00 x 7 months= $14,700.00
Staging their homes first would have saved them $14,700.00.These numbers are all relative to individual mortgage and expenses. Use this simple formula to determine how much you will save by staging your home or listing before putting it on the market:
Mortgage + expenses (utilities etc.) = Monthly expenses
Monthly expenses X 9 months (avg. time un-staged) = Cost to list house un-staged
Savings: Expenses x 7 months (average time on market reduced) –staging fee =Savings if you stage your house first!
** If you have a price reduction you can also add that into the loss you are taking by listing a property un-staged

The report goes on then to talk about the Homegain study. You can read the full RESA report here.


http://documents.clubexpress.com/documents.ashx?key=C6oaURUx%2brGhWGW3tE37ikHNu7%2fGqODUv0MjnXT9TTfufcNGMndF4x5%2fctNsrrSkpXgU5b16p4CbW1%2fWL%2bt9GFlDkDcUJelPdFoI%2fqlQFOs%3d

Musings of an Open House Junkie: Part One

by Debra Rosser with Staging Matters

I visit Open Houses in Flower Mound, Coppell, Argyle, Highland Village, and other North Texas cities very regularly. I do this for several reasons. I need to be very clear about what my clients’ competition looks like; I need to know which Realtors are consistently presenting properly staged homes and identify those that could use some help, but most honestly I am just addicted to seeing how other people live. Sometimes I see something in pictures that I just feel like I need to see in person.
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.

Musings Continued: Part Two

The second home I looked at was occupied. The homeowners I suspect had followed their Realtor’s advice about decluttering and cleaning. The Realtor showing the house was very professional and sharp. The sellers had made a great decision in hiring her. The problem was that in this price range the competition is most often professionally staged. The competition is steep; the most beautiful and pristine house usually sells first. If this house was staged it wasn’t staged well or the homeowners hadn’t done everything the stager had suggested. Every closet door was ajar to encourage buyers to feel free to look…the problem was every closet was messy and crowded. They had stopped short and I felt the disappointment.

Top Ten Reasons You Should Professionally Stage Your Home

There are some important principles sellers need to understand in order to get the most out of staging. This article from a Philadelphia Real Estate source is right on track. Enjoy!

http://alturl.com/xh4a

please check with a tax professional in your state to see how this would or would not apply to your situation

Top 12 Do-It-Yourself Home Improvements for Sellers

HomeGain Press Release                                                                   
November 05, 2009


HomeGain Releases 2009 Home Improvement Survey Results

HomeGain reveals new survey findings of top 12 do-it-yourself home improvements for home sellers, based on responses from nearly 1,000 REALTORS®; cleaning and de-cluttering ranks as highest return on investment, followed by home stagingEmeryville, CA - November 5, 2009 - HomeGain.com, the first website to offer web-based free instant home values, today announced that it has released the results of its nationwide home improvement and home staging Home Sale Maximizer™ survey.

HomeGain received responses from nearly 1,000 Realtors® nationwide and configured a list of the top 12 do-it-yourself (DIY) home improvements that cost under $5,000 and benefit sellers most when they sell their homes.

According to the HomeGain survey, the top five home improvements that Realtors recommend to home sellers based on cost and return on investment (from highest to lowest ROI) are:
1.Cleaning and de-cluttering ($200 cost / $1,700 price increase / 872% ROI)2.Home staging ($300 cost / $1,780 price increase / 586% ROI)3.Lightening and brightening ($230 cost / $1,300 price increase / 572% ROI)
4.Landscaping ($320 cost / $1,500 price increase / 473% ROI)
5.Repairing plumbing ($385 cost / $1,250 price increase / 327% ROI)
Cleaning and de-cluttering continues to rank as the top suggested home improvement (since the survey was originally conducted in 2000), recommended by 98 percent of Realtors, costing less than $200 and returning a value of nearly $1,700 to the home's sale price, or an 872% return on investment.

"Many Realtors agree, especially in a buyer's market, that sellers who make these recommended home improvements often get their homes sold faster and at higher prices," stated Louis Cammarosano, General Manager at HomeGain. "We have customized our Home Sale Maximizer online home improvement tool to help identify and prioritize the projects that can increase the salability and selling price of a home."

Rounding out the top 12, the list of low cost, do-it-yourself home improvements includes: updating electrical, replacing or shampooing carpets, painting interior walls, repairing damaged floors, updating kitchen, painting outside of home, and updating bathroom/s.
The home improvement projects with the highest price increases to a home's resale value is Updating the Kitchen ($1,200 cost / $2,850 price increase), followed by Painting the Outside of the Home ($900 cost / $1,815 price increase) and Home Staging ($300 cost / $1,780 price increase)."Inexpensive cosmetic home improvements and basic improvements greatly enhance the value of the home," stated Carol Wilson of Carpenter Real Estate in Indianapolis, IN, HomeGain AgentEvaluator member since 1999.

To see the complete survey results, visit the HomeGain Real Estate Blog.

iLIVEcommunity

Check out this article about how staging helps sellers in this local community news spot for Roanoke and surrounding cities. http://ilivecommunity.com/2010/02/20/home-seller-sanity-saver-from-an-expert/

Home Staging Helps Sellers in a Buyer's Market

As the housing market struggles to regain its footing, more buyers are slowly beginning to enter the marketplace. But sellers continue to face special challenges. There are still a number of unsold homes on the market, which means:

• Buyers can be pickier about what they choose to buy

• Buyers have more room to negotiate price

• Sellers are frustrated because their homes aren’t selling as fast as they’d like

• Sellers are pressured by agents to drop their prices dramatically, since agents don’t get paid until the house sells

How can a home stand out from the competition when there are several homes for sale at similar prices in the neighborhood, or worse, on the same street? Rather than just slashing the selling price, home sellers should consider the less costly option of decorating the property to romance buyers and motivate them to make an offer.

In this market, it is going to take more than a fresh coat of paint and a new welcome mat. A buyer’s market raises the stakes, and sellers will need to do more work on the home to get the highest price possible. Home staging--the art of decorating a house to sell more quickly and for a higher price--is the perfect solution for sellers who are desperate to catch the attention of buyers.

Often we are so familiar with our own homes that we cannot see them through the eyes of a critical buyer. A professional home stager brings the objectivity needed to showcase the best features of each room. This is often achieved with cosmetic changes and rearranging and editing the furnishings that are already there. In the case of a vacant home, a professional home stager will bring in the items needed to add that homey touch.

Expert home stager Debra Gould shares a real-life example of the difference staging can make and how much cheaper it is than a dramatic price cut: A real estate agent wanted her client to drop his asking price by $50,000 after the house had sat on the market for 6 months without a single offer. She was desperate to attract interest since it was costing her money to carry the listing and she wasn’t making anything for her time and effort. Instead of listening to his agent’s advice, the client called in Gould to stage his house. She spent a day helping the client rearrange all the furniture and accessories in every room. Some things were moved to off-site storage, and she purchased a few new accessories, which the client could also use in his new home. The total cost for Gould’s staging advice, storage and the purchases came in at $1,500. The client didn’t have to cut his asking price by $50,000, and instead sold the following week for 98% of the original list price.

A professional home stager can help you draw buyers’ attention so you can sell your home faster. This reduces or even eliminates the need for price reductions, helping you hold on to the precious equity you’ve built up over the years.

Internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould is president of Six Elements and creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program with over 4,000 students worldwide. Gould is the author of three home staging guides and offers a Directory of Home Stagers to help homeowners and real estate agents locate home stagers who will decorate homes to sell quickly and for top dollar. To learn more, visit www.stagingdivadirectoryofhomestagers.com
Written by internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®, www.stagingdiva.com. © 2009, Six Elements Inc. Used with permission.

Debra Rosser, of Staging Matters, adds "The three things that effect how quickly a house will sell are location, condition and price. Sellers only have control over condition and price. Getting the price right is critical and an agent is the best person to advise you on that but overlooking how you can change the "condition" factor through staging is a mistake that is very costly. I see houses every week where the homeowners are leaving a lot of money on the table unnecessarily, or where they could have avoided a big price adjustment doing some easy/inexpensive updating or simple rearranging. Staging is an extremely affordable investment and the payoff can be huge."