Do I Have to Stage My Home to Sell It?

Many sellers want to know, “Do I have to stage my home to sell it?” Our short answer is “Yes!” but we are going to share why this is the case.

Do I have to stage my home to sell it? Top Seattle Realtor in Seattle, Kim Colaprete, says “YES!” Professionally staged homes sell for as high as 20% more money than unstaged homes. Buyers need to feel inspired as soon as they see your listing online and in person, and staged homes immediately hook buyers. And in order to have amazing marketing, your top Seattle real estate team needs beautiful photos and a video tour to promote. A staged home looks way better than a vacant home!

Do I have to stage my home to sell it?

Professionally staged homes sell for more money. In fact, staged homes can sell for as high as 20% more money than unstaged homes!
Staging helps buyers feel inspired and immediately hooked when they see your home online.
Staging allows your top Seattle realtor to create beautiful marketing. Vacant rooms does not look nearly as appealing as a staged rooms!

Below let’s dig into why you should stage your home if you are going to sell it in Seattle.

Do I Have to Stage My Home to Sell It?

Team Diva works with many sellers, and we answer the question “Do I have to stage my home to sell it?” all the time. Our answer is always “Yes!” Keep reading to learn exactly why you should stage your home to sell it.

Reason Number One to Professionally Stage Your Home: More Money For You, The Seller!

There have been numerous studies conducted by Forbes, the National Association of Realtors, and the Real Estate Staging Association about home staging. These studies show that staged homes sell 88% faster. And, what’s more, they sell anywhere from 5% – 20% higher than non-staged homes. In Seattle, the average price for a home is around $900,000. That is a sale price of $83K more than those who took the cheaper route. It seems like a no-brainer to spend an extra $6,000 or $7,000 on staging when your return on that investment is $83,000.

Sellers who spend $6-7,000 on staging see about 5-20% higher than non staged homes. For an average Seattle home that is about $83,000 more in a final sale price. Staging is worth the investment!

We have also seen personally how high-end professional staging can make a huge difference. Staging can mean the difference from getting a decent sale price, to achieving the highest sold price in a neighborhood. One of our favorite listings in Seward Park sold for 26% over the list price. At the same time, most other homes in the area were selling for maybe 4-16% over asking. The difference? High-end professional staging!

Case Study: Check out our blog about the Seward Park house mentioned above. It goes into detail about why this home outperformed the market.

Reason Number Two: Wooing Those Buyers

When a buyer walks into your home, you want them to feel like they are instantly “at home.” You want them to come in, sit down, relax and envision themselves living in the home. And custom, professional staging is the only way to ignite that emotional response from a buyer as soon as they see your house. The purpose of professional staging is to create an emotional experience for buyers so they fall in love with YOUR home, and not someone else’s.

Want to dig in deeper? Roy and Kim did a video and a blog about what you need to do to prep your home for sale. In that video, they talked about creating that inspirational moment for buyers.

Reason Number Three for Staging Your Home: Marketing!

If you did your due diligence, you hired a top real estate marketing team like Team Diva! And marketing a vacant or even a seller staged home looks… meh. You know our team has some of the top marketers in the business. When we are listing your home, we create a ton of content to promote your Diva Dwelling. There will be professional photos, a 3D tour, videos, drone shots, a blog post, and much more! (We have an in-depth blog post talking about why online marketing is incredibly important. Read about it at “Selling Your Home Requires an Effective Online Marketing Strategy.”)

Of course, all of this stellar marketing only works if your home looks as swank as possible! And by “swank” we mean professionally staged. Sure, there may be exceptions. If your home looks like it was designed by Jonathan Adler or if you only shop at West Elm, we might give you a pass. Otherwise, leave the designing to the professionals! This way none of Team Diva’s glorious marketing prowess will be wasted.

Bonus Tip: What Should You Do to Your Home Before the Stagers Arrive?

Homes still need to be prepped for staging. You can’t just move in furniture and call it a day. The Diva Difference is a system that we use to make sure every element of your home is reviewed before the stager arrives.

Pro Tip to Prep for Staging:

Move Out: We can’t fluff and buff your home while you, the doggos, and the kiddos are living in the house.
Fix What’s Broken: Not having your busted sewer or leaky dishwasher taken care of is not the path to a smooth transaction.
Make it Pretty: Staging only works if your home is market-ready. This may mean fresh paint, new lighting, new flooring, and more. Do what you need to do to get it looking fresh and sparkly.

For more information on these pre-staging tips, watch our video “How to Sell a Home in Seattle | A Top Producer Shares All of Her Secrets for Getting Top Dollar.” In this video, we go into detail about the home prep process!

More Details About the Fab Mid-Century Modern Home in North Seattle We Mentioned in the Video

Our incredible seller clients made all of the right decisions to get this fab mid-century modern home in North Seattle to market-ready status. All of this prep work happened before the staging began. Once everything was sparkling clean and in move-in-ready shape, we got to work making each space come to life. Our Diva Dwellers took all of our advice and had their home professionally staged. This mid-century modern illustrates the value of staging. Just look at how beautiful this North Seattle gem is!

All the Details About the Home

MLS #1947534
Address: 14003 Interlake Ave N, Seattle, 98133
Listing Brokers: Kim V Colaprete and Michael Jouver
Square Footage: 2,410
Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 1.75
Parking: 1+

More details on the listing page >

Now You Know the Answer to the Question “Do I Have to Stage My Home to Sell It?”!

Do I have to stage my home to sell it? Top Seattle realtors say “Yes”! Homes that are professionally staged sell for as much as 20% more than unstaged ones. Buyers should feel an emotional connection as soon as they see your home online. Stunning photos immediately hook buyers. And, of course, in order to have that amazing marketing, your top Seattle real estate team needs to have beautiful photos and a video tour (and more) to promote. This can only be accomplished by having an impeccably staged home. Remember: a staged home looks way better than a vacant home!

Do I have to stage my home to sell it?

Professionally staged homes sell for more money. In fact, they can sell for as high as 20% more money than unstaged homes!
Staging helps buyers feel inspired and immediately hooked when they see your home online.
Staging allows your top Seattle realtor to create beautiful marketing. A vacant home does not look nearly as appealing as a staged one!