If You Want to Sell for Top Dollar:
Why Property Staging is A Must
Home staging can accelerate the sale process by 10% to 50%. Nearly a third of all buyers said their offers were higher because of staging.
(Data from the National Association of REALTORS and HomeLight)
Staging a property means creating a space that buyers can visualize themselves in and aspire to own.
A skilled stager’s artistry can captivate and attract the best potential buyers on a visual, visceral, and emotional level. While hiring a talented designer and stager to transform your vacant property might seem expensive—after all, why not just buy a couch yourself?—real-life staging is a crucial step in achieving a successful sale. Beyond that couch, a stager brings together the perfect combination of furniture, rugs, bedding, art, and accessories that will harmonize and amplify our preparation efforts to date.
Product Packaging Writ Large
Your Home is A Canvas and a Product. Staging it is the lynchpin for what comes next — a successful sale
Home staging an otherwise vacant home is a literal demonstration for how prospective buyers can live in a space. If we have done the job right, that picture is one where people see themselves living a better life. That is powerful stuff and counsel that staging is an indispensable step in getting full market value for a property that is marketed to the general public.
The importance of staging cannot be overstated. Forgoing staging can end up costing far more than the initial investment, as it typically results in a lower sale price. We have collaborated with many of San Francisco’s top stagers and designers, each with their own unique approach, price point, and availability.
— Queen Elizabeth II
Who, of course, owned six homes in the UK.
Visual Cues: Accentuating the Positives, or Focusing on the Negatives?
Everyone has a critical eye to varying degrees. But with an empty space, a minor flaw can easily become a »concern« if there is nothing else to look at or that will contextualize. Contrasted to fully furnished, styled and aspirational living areas providing positive purchasing vibes. As a seller, which do you prefer?
People Will Focus on the Flaws if There is Nothing to Look at
And Raffi is a priceless element of our presentation.
THE PROCESS
How Staging Usually Works
Unless you’re there rare exception out there who can self-stage (and we have had success with clients who are) you’re going to need to hire the stagers. Here’s the process usually:
1. Who. Talk to us about which stagers our clients have used with success
2. Stager Site Visit. Schedule stager visits to property (usually 10-30 minutes long). We can handle these for you too.
3. And... Review the estimates. Visit properties that are currently staged to see their work in person.
4. Decide. Once you like one, sign staging contract; provide payment information for deposit (usually 80 percent)
5. Vacate Property. Simple enough, right? But if the stagers have to clean inside, paint or wash windows they will mark those services up. We have other vendors we can refer you to so ask us more information.
6. The Stagers Stage. Assuming the stagers have the keys (or there’s a lockbox), parking permits pulled and permissions obtained (needed for many condo buildings) the stagers will do their work which can take a half day to 3 days. They will lay down moving paper, pad furniture and the such.
7. The Stagers Finish. After the details are finalized and the pillows are fluffed we’re ready for photos and showings to start. The remaining portion of the staging fee is usually due now.
8. The Stagers Maintain. After open houses and showings are underway the stagers will return to the property to water plants, change out flowers or change out furniture if requested.
9. The Stagers Break It Down. Once it’s clear the buyers are going to close on the property — either when all contingencies are removed or when closing documents are readied — the breakdown takes place (usually 1-3 days).
10. Broom Clean. The stagers will leave a property broom clean. They should patch holes in the walls for the art they hang but it’s unlikely they’ll do a paint match unless agreed upon. All keys are returned.
Some Notes about Home Staging
- Property staging has been considered to be ‘advertising’ within the meaning of tax deductions and adjustments to any capital gains taxes you may have to pay.
- Think of staging as an investment in your property that will yield multiples of a staging fee.
- You don’t want agents paying for staging as it wouldn’t be fair to everyone involved: agents may opt for the cheapest possible and wouldn’t reap the return on such an investment like a seller would with a higher sale price.
- Partial Staging (either using your furniture or only staging part of a property) is unusual but possible under the right circumstances
- No, you cannot use the stager’s furniture for the most part. Display only!
- Stagers may add a 10-30% markup for additional services and products beyond installing and removing all furniture. Ask us about our vendor network instead.
- Almost all staging contracts are for a 60-day minimum with 80% due as a deposit to lock-in our staging dates with the balance due upon completion of the installation.
- Extensions are cheaper. And it’s usually not possible to get a pro-rata rebate if we sell quickly.
- Sometimes it may be possible to buy staging items — it never hurts to ask.
The Stagers We Use.
We work with the best because we recognize the immense value of design, and we deliver results because of that commitment. Our team is meticulous about details and personally styles each property after the stagers have completed their work, ensuring every element is perfect. Our exacting standards mean we add personal touches like fresh flowers, scented candles, and high-end accessories to make a property even more appealing.
There are many talented staging companies in San Francisco, here are four of them who have helped our clients in the past.
Coy and Company
Sayde Mark Designs
Birch & Tailor
JV Staging
88 Staging
Visual Cues: Accentuating the Positives, or Focusing on the Negatives?
Everyone has a critical eye to varying degrees. But with an empty space, a minor flaw can easily become a »concern« if there is nothing else to look at or that will contextualize. Contrasted to fully furnished, styled and aspirational living areas providing positive purchasing vibes. As a seller, which do you prefer?
People Will Focus on the Flaws if There is Nothing to Look at
Coy & Company
Luxury, high-end and in-demand, Coy & Company is the successor company to celebrated designer and stager Arthur McLaughlin who retired to Wine Country after helping so many agents and sellers with their properties. The quality is high, the outcomes are extraordinary. Being able to have a stager who can track the designs we help create without fuss or edits is worth its weight in gold.
JV Staging
High-end, consistent, hard-working, friendly. Woman-owned team of Valerie and Jane. has helped us prepare everything from lofts, single-family houses, Victorian flats, Mutli-unit buildings, SOMA studios, large houses and more.
Birch & Tailor
Luxury, high-end, edgy, chic, stylized, frenetic, fabulous and friendly. Chris Miniello and his team has helped us prepare properties from the start with a wide range of capabilities from houses, condos and more. Expect a curated/bespoke approach.
Sayde Mark
The ability to do glam, understated and everything in between characterizes this reliable, robust and repeat staging company we've started to work with recently.
88 Staging
Practical. Quality. New. Hard-working. Determined. We've just started working with 88 Staging and you can tell they have drive and determination as they start out in this tough field.
What the Studies Show
According to Bankrate.com, various studies have shown home staging can be a worthwhile investment.
Investing just 1 percent of a home’s value in staging, 75 percent of sellers who stage their homes professionally saw a return between 5 percent and 15 percent.
Eighty-five percent of staged homes fetched offers between 5 percent and 23 percent over list price, according to 2020 data from the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA)
Similarly, 23 percent of buyer’s agents in the NAR report indicated staging helped increase offer amounts anywhere from 1 percent to 5 percent.
The adage of time is money applies here, too: According to HomeAdvisor, staged homes spend between 33 percent and 50 percent less time on the market.
Tried and True: Harrowing Stories of Staging and Non-Staging
We are hand’s on agents for sure when it comes to property preparation and presentation as we are always looking out for our clients’ interests. Sometimes you can only do so much and sometimes what you do can mean so much
MIRANDA PRIESTLY WOULD BE PROUD — WHEN THE STAGERS NEED A REALTY CHECK K+J ARE THERE
Even the best stagers can have an ‘off-day.’ This is why we are here to make sure those days are few and far between.
One of our more memorable sales that set a high-water mark for Noe Valley was also one where we had a tight two-day timeline to have the stagers complete a 2-month preparation process with their furniture, art and accessories. We had just 2 days before Vanguard Properties’ noted photographer was due to shoot the property for our marketing collateral and property photos.
It was a firm deadline.
After handing over the keys to the stagers on the first morning, we came back later that day to see the process, we saw that something was awry.
Our stager's usual aesthetic — stylish, sophisticated and polished — was replaced by something that resembled a New Mexico-sunset-style pueblo jamboree with few chairs or any items with right angles for that matter. Day one’s results weren't pretty. It could have been disaster.
It was late but we took action and politely (but firmly) reminded the stagers that this wasn't the look our properties are known for and that this wasn't up to par. Worse is that this was something that had to be fixed within 24 hours or else we’d miss a critical weekend of open houses (which is when the eventual buyers saw the place).
The sellers, who had overcome a micro-managing streak in the beginning of the process, told us later that they would have panicked as the staging at the end of day 1 was ‘terrible’ but also knew to trust us as they knew we’d handle it.
And that’s what we did as the next morning when we came back there were 4 large trucks and a crew of about 50 people moving moving things to and fro so that by the end of day 2, the property was, well, stunning. Only one piece from day 1 was still there but everything, to the stager’s credit was replaced and sparkling.
After the panic, our photographer came, we put in our touches (flowers, accessories) and Raffi’s property video was shot and we launched right on schedule with a mobbed first weekend of open houses (with one agent saying it was the best he’d seen in 40 years).
But how’d we do sales-wise?
There were seven offers with the winning one being some $300,000 above what the sellers had thought the house was worth, and $200,000 above a pre-emptive offer from a neighbor. Better yet, we also met 4 sets of (eventually successful) buyers from that listing.
A REFORMED SELLER SEES THE LIGHT
“One thing I learned is that there is absolutely no value in using your own furniture to stage a property. I should have listened to you guys sooner.”
— Seller, who eventually sold his property after we advised him to stage in the beginning but didn't. If he had, he would have probably sold for more and done it sooner.
Clients Who Listened To Us, Saw An Over $700,000 gain in the Property in 2 years
“From the beginning stages of brainstorming ideas, to the execution and final sale, Kevin and Jonathan were with us every step of the way. They knew exactly what needed to be done and who to talk to, whether it be design, painting, hiring contractors or staging. They had a wealth of resources, all extremely skilled and competitively priced. I travel all over the country for work and Kevin and Jonathan will actively help you manage your property during the construction process. Kevin himself did work at our place (changing our shower head) and also met me at different stores to pick materials multiple times.”
— Sellers, Lower Haight/Duboce
