How Much Does It Cost to Stage a House?

What is Home Staging?

Home staging is an essential aspect of the sales process. Its purpose is to enhance the home’s visual appeal to prospective buyers. Your home is usually designed to meet your personal needs, or a property may be vacant. 

Staged homes let potential buyers picture themselves living in the home with their stuff. Putting rented furniture in a vacant house can help someone envision it as their future home. Decluttering the whole house and removing personal items is common in staged homes, too.  

Benefits of Staging

By preparing the property and making it visually appealing, you could attract more buyers and receive higher offers. Many homeowners can recoup the cost of hiring a staging company, including one that helps with virtual staging.

Home staging can create a positive first impression, highlight key features of the property, and eventually increase the sale price. If your home staging efforts are effective, the original list price of the home may be significantly less than the amount you ultimately receive. 

Factors Affecting Staging Costs

How much does it cost to stage a house? The price to stage a house depends on numerous factors, such as the size of the home, whether it’s a single story home, the number of rooms, the type of staging services used, and the property’s location. Let’s discuss these elements to determine how home staging costs may affect your budget. 

Home Size and Number of Rooms

A larger home will cost more money to stage. Professional stagers often determine their staging fees based on each square foot, the number of floors, and the number of rooms. Rental fees for furniture will increase with additional rooms. Professional cleaning services will also cost more. 

Staging companies typically go by the number of rooms you want to stage. This can also include outdoor spaces. A two-story house may cost more if you stage both floors. 

Staging Services Required

If you only pay for an initial design consultation where the stager offers tips and advice after viewing your home, this option is less expensive. DIY staging can be cheaper than professional home stagers, but you may have to spend money on cleaning, repairs, decor, furniture, and other elements. 

Full-service staging can be more expensive but less stressful. These companies already have window treatments to make vacant homes more appealing. They have real estate experience and can help with virtual staging. Home staging professionals know that staged homes sell faster and how to make that happen. Many offer soft staging services, too.

Geographic Location

Are you selling a home in a hot metropolitan market like Atlanta, Houston, Miami, or New York? Home staging costs are higher in more competitive real estate markets. If you live in a smaller market, you can take advantage of lower prices from smaller staging companies or freelancers. Local market rates will always depend on the vibrancy of the housing market. 

Rental vs. Owned Furniture and Decor

Home staging often involves furniture and decor. Selling an empty house may require less work to clean and declutter, but you must rent furniture or use the stager’s inventory. The cheapest option is to stage the home with your existing furniture or decor. 

Professional home stagers typically keep an inventory of furniture that can be used for your home. Most professionals include the cost of furniture rental in the total cost breakdown, so it’s included in the price.  Furniture rental can be expensive and may not be worth the short-term benefits of home staging. 

Staging Duration

In a hot market, a home may only need to be staged for a week or two to attract numerous offers, reducing the cost of staging fees. However, the cost will increase if your market moves slowly, and the home staging will last for many weeks or months. 

You can save money by efficiently planning the staging period to include professional photos and an open house or two in a short period. 

Typical Staging Costs

Deciding how to stage your home is an essential step in home sales. You should discuss the idea with your real estate agent. With their experience, they could recommend the best option for your home, the market it is in, and your budget. 

The general estimate for home staging that lasts a few months is one percent of the cost of the home. Let’s look at how much you should expect to pay to stage your house.. 

Consultation Fees

You can hire a home stager for an initial consultation to get recommendations about how to stage it yourself. In this case, they do not perform any physical staging tasks. They simply offer advice on designing the home to increase its appeal. 

The cost for an in-home consultation will likely fall between $150 and $600, depending on your geographic location and the reputation of the home stager you hire. 

DIY Staging Costs

Staging the home yourself is a great way to save money, though you may miss out on the professional touch of experienced stagers. Decluttering and rearranging your current furniture can be done for free. Small things like cleaning light fixtures are also free. 

Many DIY options to increase curb appeal, such as planting flowers, can be affordable. However, if you have to invest in more furniture rental, additional throw pillows, new decor, paint, or other staging resources to increase your home’s appeal, your costs could max out at several hundred or a few thousand dollars.

Partial Staging Costs

Another way to reduce the cost of staging a house is to focus on the key areas of your home. Partial staging often involves staging the main living areas and virtual staging. You can pay professional home stagers to focus on the living room, dining room, kitchen, and master bedroom. Then, you can take over other spaces. 

You can expect to pay between $500 and $1500 for partial staging. 

Full Staging Costs

You will spend a lot of money if you hire a home stager for the entire house and their complete services. However, the cost may be worth it if the appeal of your home leads to better offers. The stager will provide staging furniture, decorate, and arrange the entire house, usually for between $600 and $2,500, depending on the size of your home and its location. 

Maximizing Your Staging Investment

Most home sellers do not want to spend thousands of dollars to stage their properties. When you add all the other closing costs, the potential profits are reduced further. Maximizing your investment is key to staging the home successfully for potential buyers. Here are some tips to make the most of your staging expenses. 

Focusing on Key Areas

Most buyers focus on a few rooms when they look at houses. Your staging efforts should focus on the most visible areas, such as the entryway, living room, and kitchen. The main bedroom is also significant to most buyers. 

Decluttering and Depersonalizing

One reason for staging a home is to help buyers imagine their lives in it. However, this can be difficult if all your personal belongings clutter the space. To help buyers visualize their lives in the house, remove as much clutter as possible and depersonalize the space. 

DIY Staging Tips

Your real estate agent can often help you stage the home without hiring professionals. Buyer’s agents can do plenty of things to make the home more appealing, such as rearranging furniture to open up the space, adding fresh flowers, and enhancing the lighting. Better lighting makes the space feel brighter and bigger, like a luxury home, which will help attract more buyers. 

Sell Your House Without Worrying About Home Staging Costs!

Staging can be a huge undertaking, especially when you factor in professional fees, furniture rental, and property size. If you would rather sell the house without the stress and cost of staging, you can look for cash buyers.

At A-List Properties, we buy houses in Texas in any condition for a fair cash offer. When you sell to our team, you can avoid spending time and money on staging and preparing the house because we will buy it as is. 

Call us today at 972-526-7042 or complete the online form to request a free cash offer for your home.