Does Staging Really Help To Sell Your House?

In recent years we have all been hearing more and more about staging. Is staging really necessary when selling a home?  Is it worth it to spend the money to have your property staged?  Studies show that staged homes generally sell faster and for more money then homes that are not staged.  We recommend that you take into account the current state of the market when deciding whether or not to stage your home.  First, are you selling in a hot seller's market, balanced or buyer's market?  If you are selling during a seller's market, it probably will not be necessary to stage your home.  If the market is a bit slower or if there is a lot of competition, staging may be a good idea.  You will want your property to stand out from the others on the market and having a staged home may bring higher offers to the table. 

Useful Resources in Your Area

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MARKET UPDATE: Give us an update on your local real estate market

With unstable real estate markets across the United States and the world, it seems like the hope for a quick recovery will be long coming.  Though some regions have seen some improvement over the last few months, this may not be an ongoing trend. 

Joseph Foudy, a professor of economics and management at NYU's Stern School of Business, notes, "We're coming off of an artificial bump from the first time home buyer credit, which expired last month." He predicts the second half of this year will see sluggish economic growth and that housing prices, at best, will be flat for the next few months, while commercial real estate "is likely to see significant declines." Read Article

We would like to hear from you.  What is the condition of your local market?  Are values and sales down or is your market recovering?  What are the predictions for the rest of the year and going into 2011?  Also do you think your current market offers good investment opportunities?