Has anybody home staging service before?

[emma008]

I am wondering if home staging service is a worthwhile thing to try when selling your home. Has anybody tried it yet? How much does it cost? Was it worth it and would you recommended again? Thanks

[addismom]

yes I have and I would highly recommend it! THe realtor I used offered the service. I have staged a couple homes after that time, so if you want to pm and discuss I can give you ideas and suggestions. It does make a difference, the day my house was listed, and had the first two showings that day, I had two offers in the same night. This was in the bad time to list season! lol There are lots of things to consider when doing it, and it can include changing a color of the paint on your walls etc. I am happy to walk you through it, If you are close enough to me I could help you.

[dashingjames]

We have done it once when my father decides to move to where his job was. I was in high school back then and I cannot say how much he pay for it but it is worthy. I think it is better to do it before moving.

[aarmo]

I found that one of the better real estate agents we used, was able to come in and make some common sense but very valuable suggestions on minor changes that make a big impact on people's view of the home. I would think that an agent that has been around a while would be able to give you a few pointers (for free) and should be able to also recommend a staging service. But my personal opinion would be to try using the realtor's advice, and obviously cleaning and decluttering the house first, painting and fixing up eye sores, and see what sort of feedback (or offers) you get. I don't think I'd spend money on a full on staging service unless the house wasn't moving.

Unless maybe you're in a desperate situation that means you have to move fast and money is less of an object.

[momof5boys]

Just sold a home a year ago and didn't use staging experts. We did a whole bunch of decluttering and made sure there wasn't any obvious fix ups that needed doing. Home sold very quickly and this home was beside another that looked like a junkyard! Drove by our former place a few weeks back and what a mess. I'm glad we're outta there.

[tjthemanto]

1. Just declutter your house.

2. Remove all personal stuff like personal photos, belongings, shoes, clothes etc. stuff them in closets, under bed, in boxes in garage etc.

3. Clean your house and keep it neat and tidy and well arranged. With your best pillow covers, bed sheets etc etc. keep it odour free. Act as if a guest is coming to your house.

4. A few flower vases here and there and a few paintings on the wall here and there and some carpet pieces here and there, should do the trick. Try to highlight the good spots and try to cover the bad spots.

look at some photos of houses on sale and try to follow some of their tricks with what you already have in your house and you should be fine.

[KDivers]

Never used one but I have herd through the grape vines that it works!

[Tiffany Kermani]

Yes, I agree that it is a very worthwhile thing to try when selling your home.

[Jina]

We just sold our house 4 months ago through an estate agent who offered the service. But to be honest, she didn't had much to do because I did most of the job already! lol
We rented a space at Dymon storage and put all the bulky furniture we could live without during the selling process, like queen bed (which we replaced in one bedroom with a crib that was in our master bedroom), boxes that we've packed to make room in the closets, etc. We sent the maximum of stuff we could but left some nice furniture in the house. I used a comforter set I bought on sale for our master bedroom to make it look like model home. Painted a few rooms in a more neutral colours. Painted the trims and doors. Made sure the house was super clean.
Our house was even active on mls we had 2 showings scheduled and had 4 more the next day, during which we got an offer. Still had people who wanted to view the house on conditional sale.
There were a few other houses on the same street, same model that were on the market for months. They were empty, needed work or too cluttered.

I personally doesn't really look at how nice a house look but a lot of people do. I've seen some houses that look like model home that haven't sold in months too. I guess it's really down to having a good price and that your house is clean and shows well. Doesn't have to be professionally staged. Like others have suggested, look at photos online etc to get an idea. I used to watch tv shows like "love it, or list it", "property brothers", etc...so I had a pretty good idea what to do.

Maybe try to see if the service can be offered from your agent. I interviewed 3 agents and everytime I asked them what they offered in terms of services. The one I chose offered home staging, professional video and photos.

Good luck.