Arlington Virginia Real Estate Staging: Minimal Cost for Maximum Results

Let’s get right to the numbers:  

The national average cost to stage a house is approximately 1% of the asking price of the house.  

This is true on some levels, but not for every house.  First, this sort of number really only applies to vacant houses, where furniture and accessories have to be rented.  Second, I’ve staged many a million dollar house and the cost was no where near $10,000.  On the other hand, I’ve staged mid-priced vacants where this formula comes close to being on target – it all depends on what the homeowner and Realtor want.  

I’m asked by virtually every new client with a vacant to stage for a ballpark estimate.  It is a professional policy of Preferred Staging’s not to give estimates without first having seen the property, as there are too many variables to take into account (room size, layout, natural light, etc.).  However, I do offer the 1% formula as a starting point for the client to understand the cost of staging.  

Another number:  

“Preferred Staging’s proposals to stage vacant houses generally fall between 0.5% – 0.8% of the asking price of the house.”  

I quickly follow up the national formula with the above statement.  It doesn’t have to cost a lot to stage your house.  

Remember, all of the above numbers refer to VACANT houses.  Occupied houses are a completely different story.  

Just last week we staged this very sweet house in Arlington, listed by Anya Macklin.  The first step was a 2 hour walk-through consultation, which was paid for by the Realtor as a value added service to her clients.  (Call me for information about special Realtor discounts on Preferred Staging’s services!)   

Home owners know they have to declutter, but they often don’t know what the next step is in presenting their house for sale.  In this case, we talked about moving some furniture to open up spaces,  replacing some larger furniture with smaller furniture to allow easier access through rooms, removing and/or switching some wall art, using their own decorative pieces for display, and the addition of a couple of lamps, art work, and greenery from Preferred Staging’s inventory.  

One week later we came back and spent just 2 ½ hours at the house; the home owners had done the bulk of the work themselves already.  The only items they had purchased were 2 new lamps for the master bedroom nightstands on my recommendation after a brief tutorial on table lamps and suggestions of where to buy them.  I generally don’t encourage home owners to buy new items for staging a house unless it’s something they really need and can use in their new home, in which case it becomes an investment, not just a purchase.   

The final staging cost to the home owners – including the cost of new lamps – is just about $500.  That’s 0.001% of the asking price of the house.   

The Realtor was very pleased with the results, and the open house last Sunday had over 20 couples.  The house is priced right and shows well – and I’m sure to hear back soon that it has sold.  

Before and after photos of this property can be found on the Preferred Staging gallery.  

All the Best,  

Monica, ASP

703.851.2690 

Preferred Staging

the art of home preparation

McLean, Virginia Home Staged in Evermay

Preferred Staging firmly believes that every property is unique, so when we approach a house for staging, we need to take into consideration all of the wonderful features that the house has to offer.  We stage each house to highlight its best features, and work with the challenges.  Each house, therefore, is staged a little bit differently.  

Last week we staged a fabulous house in the Evermay area of McLean, Virginia.  It’s a split level house with a large and open front foyer, which is very welcoming.  However, from the foyer you can see into every main room of the house – the dining room, kitchen and family room, living room, and finished basement.  What a view!  And this was our main challenge – to stage each room visible from the front foyer so that it was warm and welcoming, but also with focal points that would invite buyers to walk into the rooms to experience each space further.  The longer a buyer will linger in a room, the more interested they can become, and hopefully envisioning themselves living in that room.  This is a major first step in the buying process.

  

  

Our team staged this large house in just one day, and when the Realtor stopped by as we were finishing up, he stood in the foyer and looked around him and into each room.  He was thrilled with the results!  The Borker’s Open the next day was a huge success, and we are expecting a sale in the very near future!   Before and after photos of this property can be found on the Preferred Staging gallery.  

All the Best,  

Monica, ASP

703.851.2690 

Preferred Staging

the art of home preparation

MINIMAL COSTS FOR MAXIMUM RESULTS

Let’s get right to the numbers:

 

The national average cost to stage a house is approximately 1% of the asking price of the house.

 

This is true on some levels, but not for every house. First, this sort of number really only applies to vacant houses, where furniture and accessories have to be rented. Second, I’ve staged many a million dollar house and the cost was no where near $10,000. On the other hand, I’ve staged mid-priced vacants where this formula comes close to being on target.

 

I’m asked by virtually every new client with a vacant to stage for a ballpark estimate. It is a professional policy of Preferred Staging’s not to give estimates without first having seen the property, as there are too many variables to take into account (room size, layout, natural light, etc.). However, I do offer the above formula as a starting point for the client to understand the cost of staging.

 

Another number:

 

Preferred Staging’s proposals to stage vacant houses generally fall between 0.5% – 0.8% of the asking price of the house.

 

I quickly follow up the first statement with the above statement. It doesn’t have to cost a lot to stage your house.

 

Remember, all of the above numbers refer to VACANT houses. Occupied houses are a completely different story.

 

Just last week we staged a very sweet house in Arlington .  The first step was a 2 hour walk-through consultation, which was paid for by the Realtor as a value added service to her clients. Home owners know they have to declutter, but they often don’t know what the next step is in presenting their house for sale. In this case, we talked about moving some furniture to open up spaces, replacing some larger furniture with smaller furniture to allow easier access through rooms, removing and/or switching some wall art, using their own decorative pieces for display, and the addition of a couple of lamps, art work, and greenery from Preferred Staging’s inventory.

 

One week later we came back and spent only 2 ½ hours at the house; the home owners had done the bulk of the work themselves already. The only items they had purchased were 2 new lamps for the master bedroom nightstands on my recommendation after a brief tutorial on table lamps and suggestions of where to buy them. I generally don’t encourage home owners to buy new items for staging a house unless it’s something they really need and can use in their new home, in which case it becomes an investment, not just a purchase. The final staging cost to the home owners – including the cost of new lamps – is just about $500. That’s 0.001% of the asking price of the house.

 

The Realtor was very pleased with the results, and the open house had over 20 couples.  The house is priced right and shows well – I’m sure I’ll hear back soon that it has sold.

 

 

 

All the Best,
Monica

 

Busy, Busy, Busy

Wow, it has been a busy spring! I hope everyone has been able to capture the increase in activity over the last several weeks. I know the properties we have staged have been selling like proverbial “hot cakes.”

Our oldest property, in terms of days on market, just sold. Even though it took 3 months, our average DOM held steady at 23 for all of 2009, thanks to several recent properties selling in less than a week.  

Staging is not as glamorous as the HGTV shows make it out to be. While I love the quick sales of our staged properties, it can mess with your mind a bit when you spend so much time making a home beautiful, then go undo it 30 days later. But, hey, Preferred Staging is here to help you sell homes, so we are happy that we contribute to a great result of a quick sale.  

Recently, I was asked to do a consultation for a townhouse in Reston that sits right on a beautiful lake.  The home owners are both very talented artists, and their home was their personal art gallery.  The paint colors were bold and bright, and there was an eclectic but successful mix of contemporary and traditional furniture and art.       

The owners loved their house; it was truly a reflection of all they loved.  Unfortunately, the interior is what I call “style specific”, meaning that the decorating was specifically their style and would not appeal to a broader target pool of buyers.  

Luckily, virtually all the work to be done was cosmetic, so the staging consultation also included a color consultation.  The owners had done as I had suggested in the consultation – both painting and staging – and I was called back a week or so ago to take my after photos.

All I could say was WOW!  The transformation was fabulous! The full listing is here and before and afters here.  

Another recent townhome, this one in the Ballston area of Arlington, Virginia was great to stage. They key feature in this home was a great fireplace surrounded by built-ins. There was no question what the focal point of the home was.

 

Since the fireplace was dominant and protrudes into the room slightly, we staged with lighter furniture so as not to compete with the weight of the focal point.       

The rest of the before and afters can be found on our web sight.   Please have a happy, safe and productive (if you are working) or non-productive (if you are resting) Memorial Day weekend.  

All the Best!  

Monica, ASP

703.851.2690 

Preferred Staging

the art of home preparation

Investing in Home Staging

So, how many times in your life has someone told you there is “no free lunch” or ”you get what you pay for”? Well, we all know the most important things in life are invaluable, but everything else has a price tag.  

Staging is no different, the most important thing that we provide our clients is peace of mind that they are doing everything possible to sell their property. You cannot place a value on that.  

What you can place a value upon is success. Our average days on the market fell to 20 this week with the sale of one of our most recent stagings in just 10 days. Now, we do not take anything away from the real estate pros we work with, they deserve all the credit for moving these properties – they are the best!  

Preferred Staging’s job is to provide the backdrop for an aggressive marketing effort. It is very difficult to market a vacant home, or an occupied that just does not show well. All the eloquent wording of fliers, the online listings, the broker’s opens, and open houses cannot overcome a home that does not show well. That’s where we come in.  

80% of the homes we have staged this year are under contract, and those homes sold in an average of just 20 days, that’s a full 60 days less than the average in Arlington so far this year. That is 2 fewer mortgage payments home owners have to make, on average. It is also less marketing time and expense for you.  

Home staging may be a new concept for many home owners, but the numbers tell a very effective story that it is the way to go to sell quickly.  

All the Best!  

Monica, ASP

703.851.2690 

Preferred Staging

the art of home preparation

Washington DC Realtor Home Preparation Guide

Preferred Staging is offering its agent partners and friends in the Washington DC area an opportunity to co-brand a unique home preparation guide. This easy to read guide will become a centerpiece of your farming activities and listing presentations. Differentiate yourself from other agents by including a custom home preparation guide, specifically developed for today’s market.

 

Take a look at the guide and let us know if you would like to your own version to distribute to your clients and prospects. There is no charge or obligation – the guide is Preferred Staging’s way of helping you set yourself apart, just as our staging projects set homes apart from the competition.

 

All the Best,

 

Monica

703.851.2690

Preferred Staging

the art of home preparation

Pendleton St, Alexandria, VA Before and After Pictures

Here are the full before and after pictures of the home on Pendleton Street in Old Town Alexandria. It really is a stunning property.

All the Best!

Monica

703.851.2690

Preferred Staging

the art of home preparation

Lovely Alexandria, Virginia Townhouse

We just finished staging this awesome townhouse in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. I will post the before and afters tomorrow, but we just finished editing the video, so I thought I would get that up right away.

This home already has some interest, with one offer on the table, just days after staging.

All the Best,
Monica
703.851.2690
www.preferredstaging.com

Holiday Staging (an abrupt end, I am afraid)

I had hoped to make this a longer series, but that will have to wait until next year.

 

Preferred Staging has been surprisingly busy these last several weeks. A couple stagings, but lots of bid work. My guess is that people are getting ready for January in hopes that buyers will return to the market, lured by the much lower interest rates. I certainly hope so!

 

Since it is now December 15, most people have completed their decorating. Putting together several more parts of this series, I believe, will not help too many more people.

 

We will start to blog about some topic relevant to the Washington DC area soon. Until then, Happy Chanukah and Merry Christmas!

 

All the Best!

Monica

703.851.2690

www.preferredstaging.com  

Don’t Overdo the Holiday Lights (Holiday Staging, Part 5)

We are almost done with the outside of the home in our special Holiday Staging series for homes for sale in Northern Virginia, Washington DC and suburban Maryland. I can’t wait to get inside, it is cold out here! Please see yesterday’s post, which lists the other blogs in the series so far.

 

In our last blog, we wrote about our favorite way to use holiday lighting when a home is on the market – using flood lights works wonders to showcase a home. However, if the idea of having a light shining in on your home several hours a night is not your idea of a good time, traditional outdoor mini-lights are a good alternative. We do like to follow some guidelines, however.

 

First, stay with white non-flashing lights. Home staging, at its core, is about neutralizing a home to appeal to as many buyers as possible. I know this may sound boring, but white always-on lights are classic. They never go out of style and they appeal to the widest audience.

 

Second, use lights prudently along the front landscaping and trim of the home. Too many lights become an attraction in themselves. They also become work for the potential buyer who may be thinking that they are not going to be able to live up to your standard when they own the home.

 

Third, add lights in the windows. Single candle type lights will draw a buyers eye around the home, making the home appear larger than it otherwise would in the dark.

 

Lastly, if you have a Christmas tree, place it next to a front window, if possible. There is something very appealing about seeing the lights of a decorated tree through a window. To many people, a tree visible through a window evokes a very warm welcoming feeling – exactly how you want a potential buyer to think about your home!

 

Now that we have taken care of the lights, we can move inside and warm up! Brrr; and it is not even Thanksgiving yet. Until next time…

 

All the Best,

 

Monica Murphy, ASP

703.851.2690

www.preferredstaging.com

the art of home preparation