6 Benefits of a Home Staging Consultation

What is Home Staging?

Home staging prepares your home for sale in the real estate market. The goal of home staging is to make your property as appealing as possible to potential home buyers. 

Staged homes, on average, sell for more and in less time than unstaged properties. The return on investment is very high for home staging. A $3,000 home staging investment could increase your home value by up to $10,000 or $15,000 dollars. 

What is a Home Staging Consultation?

A home staging consultation shows you what needs to be done in order to make your property stand out amongst buyers. Oftentimes this means decluttering, improving your lights, repainting, and other things that would raise your property value. 

The consultation report is usually 10-20 pages long with ideas, description and images of issues that should be fixed. The report is organized by rooms so you will know each issue on a room by room basis. 

How Much Does A Home Staging Consultation Cost? 

The cost of a staging consultation will vary depending on the size of your home. For most homes, a home staging consultation package will cost anywhere from 250 to 500 dollars. 

As a general rule, the bigger the property the more you should expect to pay for a consultation. Because home stagers have to look at every square foot in their staging report, stagers need more time and effort for a bigger house. 

A staging consultation could cost even more for huge properties. For luxury houses and homes with more than 5 bedrooms, a home staging consultation fee could cost up to $1,000 dollars. 

What to Expect in a Home Staging Consultation?

A home staging consultation has many parts to it. Usually, it will consist of questions, a guided tour, a detailed walkthrough, and a staging report. 

Home Questions

Initially, the home stager will ask you some questions about the property in order to get a better understanding of your home. 

Typically a home stager will ask you: 

1. What is the square footage of the property?
2. Is it a vacant home or an occupied home?
3. What is the floor plan of the house?
4. Is there clutter in the house? If so, how much clutter?
5. Is the house on the market?
6. If the house is listed on the market, how long has it been listed for?
7. What do you think is the reason for your house not selling?
8. Has there been any price reduction on your house?
9. What is the listing price of your home?
10. What do you know about home staging?

These questions will help the home stager understand how big the property is, what are some potential problems, and what is needed to help sell your property. 

Guided Tour

A home stager will then ask you to give them a guided tour of the entire property. This means the front yard, the house, the garage, the backyard and any other things on your property. 

This guided tour will allow you to introduce yourself and ask any questions about home staging. It also will allow you to answer any questions the home stager may have about your property. 

Detailed Walkthrough

After the guided tour, the home stager will do a more detailed walkthrough of your property. This is where they will start writing down notes and issues of any potential problem they see. The home stager will also take photographs during this process to use later in the consultation report. 

The detailed walkthrough will take around 2 hours to complete. The home stager is very thorough in their walk through of your home. They will inspect every square foot of your home to look for potential problems.  

After the property walkthrough, most home stagers will prepare a preliminary report of what they found.

In the preliminary report, home stagers will list any major issues they found, as well as any other important things. 

Formal Staging Report

In a couple days, the home stager will give you the formal consultation report. In it, the report will include a list of everything that should be addressed along with notes and photographs. 

The home stager will usually sit down and walk you through the report, talking about what they found, why these issues are important, as well as their suggestion on how to fix them. 

6 Benefits of A Home Staging Consultation

1. Learn why your property is not selling

If you were wondering why your property was not selling, the home staging consultation will tell you why, as well as what needs to be fixed. If you need to repaint some walls, or trim your plants, the consultation report will cover everything.

2. Learn what prospective buyers are looking for in a home

In the consultation report, you will learn what buyers value most in a home. For example, according to a report by realtor.com, lighting is the number one thing that buyers look for in a home. You will also learn what rooms buyers focus on the most.

3. Learn how make your home more appealing

The consultation report also shows you how to make your house more appealing. The report will include specific things, like repainting your front door, or changing out your light bulbs to increase your home appeal. 

4. How to increase your property value

Certain issues in the report will actually increase your property value. You will learn which things will earn you the highest return on investment. For example, a $150 dollar investment in high wattage light bulbs will usually increase your home value by up to $1000. 

5. Learn how to sell your property quicker and for more

If your is not vacant, a home staging consultation will give you tips on how to stage your property with your existing furniture and accessories. The formal report will give you ideas on how to rearrange your furniture to make your house more appealing. 

If you want 9 easy quick tips on how to stage your home, check out this blog.

6. Learn about the benefits of home staging

A home staging consultation is a great way for you to learn about home staging and its benefits. According to a research paper by IAHSP, staged properties sold up to 30x faster and for up to 20% more. 

What To Do After

After your home staging consultation, you are left with the home staging report. The formal staging report includes a list of everything that should be done if you were to stage your property. 

There’s possible two routes after your home staging consultation. One route is to do everything yourself. The other route is to hire a professional stager. 

If you want to save money, I would recommend staging your house by yourself. Although it will be harder and more time consuming, you could save $3,000-$4,000 in the end.

The other and much easier route is to hire a professional home stager. An accredited home stager will professionally stage your home.

A home stager will typically charge anywhere from $2,000-$5,000 for their home staging services. If you own a luxury property, the price of a home stager will be a little bit higher.