Home staging can be a crucial part of the home selling and marketing process. When buyers can see the potential of each room and view the whole house in a modern light, they’re one step closer to making it their own. With good home staging, even the blandest or simplest of rooms has the ability to take on a calming and inviting atmosphere. While home staging has typically been the standard approach, it can prove to add time onto the selling process, and drive a high price tag.

However, some agents and sellers have opted to not stage in recent years, hoping to create a “blank canvas” for homebuyers to view each space completely empty and imagine their own furniture and decor in each room. This is a more cost-effective method, but may fall short on creating a warm and homey experience. With both tactics having their pros and cons, we talked to project director Danielle Nash, who is an expert on the importance of home staging and its continued usefulness in today’s market.

Why do you think that home staging is so important and effective? And why should homeowners invest in it?

To put it plainly, professionally styling and arranging a property really helps to showcase its best features. It creates an inviting and visually appealing environment that potential buyers find irresistible and probably a bit more elevated from their decorating style. But it gives them hope and ideas for improvements when they do move. This strategic presentation helps buyers envision themselves living in the space and creates an emotional connection, which lends to faster sales and higher selling prices.

Home staging also helps to minimize distractions and drawbacks in a room or a home that can deter buyers. It allows homeowners to highlight the property’s best features while downplaying any weaknesses or flaws. Some tactics here include strategic furniture placement, proper lighting, and tasteful decor. Staging can transform a space, maximizing its potential and creating a welcoming atmosphere.

Megan Silver’s project in Oakland, CA

How do you think that staging impacts the marketability of a home?

The impact of home staging definitely goes beyond the financial gains that it could earn a home seller. Without a doubt, it enhances the online and offline marketing of a property, as professional photographs of staged homes are proven to attract more views and generate increased interest from potential buyers. Staged homes with unique furniture, colors, or distinctive, bold elements can also stand out in the competitive real estate market, creating a memorable listing that buyers will remember and come back to.

Do you think that modern design aesthetics play a big part in making staging “good”? Or is it ok for sellers to opt for a simpler, more subdued package?

Well, to start, gone are the days of the old staging formula: a bed, two nightstands, two side table lamps, one rug, and one accent chair equals a perfectly staged bedroom. Today most realtors are well versed in not only the proven data year after year that shows that staging definitely not only works, but now they are looking for more.

These days, realtors and sellers are looking for a hybrid of home staging and slight interior design. It’s still true that home staging means styling for the masses in the most neutral way and interior design means styling for one specific person or family based on their specific needs. That said, though, the cookie-cutter days of home staging are ending, and it helps to be distinctive and memorable.

Not only is it important to stage your property, but it is equally important these days to think about design as you research your local home stagers. Look at their website and check out their recent work. If you find yourself bored while looking at their portfolio, that is probably a sign you should seek other options.

Megan Silver’s project in Oakland, CA

What are some of the risks of not staging a home and opting to keep it empty and blank?

By forgoing staging, you’re literally leaving money on the table and increasing the days on market for your listing. I cannot emphasize this enough! Keep in mind that not every buyer is a designer or has an artistic eye, which means that a majority of people cannot visualize an empty house as a home. Buyers need staging to provide a visual for them to see a potential property as a home not just another property.

Without staging, buyers will pass through these listings as they don’t stand out, and they don’t want to take the creative or imaginative time to envision their furniture in that space. The good news is many pre-sale concierge and renovation companies such as Freemodel who front the upfront cost of upgrades and renovations will include staging in the services they upfront the cost for. With this being said it doesn’t make sense to forgo this important must have when listing a property on the market.

Megan Silver’s project in Oakland, CA

Thanks for the overview. It sounds like staging is as important as ever!

More important than ever! Staging is a useful visualization tool that pays for itself many times over. Might as well go with what works!