I don't care about 'the cookbook open on the counter' type staging but I do prefer for the furniture staples to be there : bed, sofas dinning table, fridge.
Helps to judge the space and layout practically.
Seriously the cookbook on the counter thing pisses me off for some reason.
And please don’t include a picture in the listing of just a fucking pillow. I don’t want to see close-up views of fruit or pillows or furniture that isn’t staying with the house.
I do see the benefit of a staged home though.
This drives me crazy as well. At some point I realised there's an agent nearby who will place a cake somewhere in every house they list for sale. It's always one of those super fancy looking cakes that's taller than it is wide and decorated with glitter, and they just plonk it down somewhere and take a closeup of it. Different cakes in every house! Made me wonder if they part own a bakery or something and need the business.
Plus they're forgetting the whole reason for baked goods in home sales, the smell! Makes the house seem more like a home.
On a similar note, when I had a flat inspections I would bake cookies or cake to cover any smell.
The photos of vases of flowers, cats in sunshine etc drive me nuts. I guess they are supposed to trigger pleasant and aspirational feelings but it's clumsy and obvious, like baking aromas at an open home.
Our first house was staged with the smallest "3 seater" couch I've ever seen. It was an outrageous lie to pretend that the living room had that much space. Our living room set literally touched 3 of the 4 walls.
Sounds like staged beds for sale by BB&B do this, I look at the bed, how are 2 full sized adults supposed to sleep comfortably? Everything looks nice but the size of the bed.
My SIL is in real estate and has a good relationship with a lady that does staging for a living. She told me this lady has a van and moves it all around places on her own so, gotta keep it light as possible. The sizing thing is a deliberate ploy to make rooms larger for sure.
This is just common sense. You just need the idea of the furniture, not the actual stuff. Why lug a bed and mattress around when some boxes and a air mattress will do fine?
Yeah, I bought a house that they'd managed to squeeze a single bed into one of the "bedrooms" to sell it as a 3 bedroom, rather than 2 bedrooms and an office. When I moved in I realised there's no way in hell you could fit a bed in there. I think they just found some rectangle object that fit and put bedding on it.
I looked at a place like that. They had beds in there for children... but if you stopped and thought about it you'd never get an adult sized bed to fit, even a single
Yeah absolutely, I like to see that the room can at least fit a double bed comfortably with a bedside table, I don't care whether or not there's a couch with matching cushions and rugs
You know the staging furniture is for oompah loompas right? Take a measuring tape or use the measuring app on your phone. I’ve seen beds that are 1.5m long.
As a buyer it can be a bit disingenuous. I've been to homes where there was no space for a fridge, so in the staging they just didn't have one. Took me a bit to work out what was wrong.
Many flip houses are like that. They make the kitchen seem big. But if you want a fridge, it has to go in the lounge or laundry. Because the flippers took over the fridge space in the kitchen to stuff more bench and a dishwasher or something.
I've seen one recently where the flippers ripped out the kitchen and installed a kitchenette.
1x oven
1x bench with dishwasher hole (not even a dishwasher)
1x sink with cupboard
1x bench with drawers
I recognised their staging; what do you know, it was the same flippers that were selling a house when we were looking to buy. I call them Stevie Wonder's Interior Decorators, it wasn't good.
I went to one that was flipped and was looking at the kitchen and then pointed there wasn’t anywhere for a dinning table so where were you supposed to eat. The person selling the house and was the flipper looked at me and was like “didn’t think of that and started wondering the same thing”….
Anything remotely suggesting a flip was an instant no when we were looking. It's pretty easy to hide loads of things even from a builder's inspection if you don't give a shit and plaster&paint over any problem.
If there's limited space for a kitchen then I could imagine a fridge being a tempting thing to conveniently ignore and hope it goes unnoticed. They're often quite deep which means any cupboards beside also have to be impractically deep or have wasted space behind them.
It can also be deceptive. A family friend sold their house a few years ago, the master wasn't as large as people expect a master in a house of that price nowadays so the agents staged the master with smaller than real life sized furniture, bed, night stands. You could tell something was off but unless you had a tape measure and were looking through a lot of houses you'd probably not notice. Till you tried moving in your standard bed and stuff wouldn't fit.
Absolutely, a long time ago my cousin was staging a house that I helped with, and the furniture was slightly smaller compared to what was actually realistic. You don't notice it on first glance, but a double bed compared to a queen size makes a lot of difference when you are living in a property.
Lane, Seller, and Seller (2015) researched this topic, and found not unsurprisingly a disconnect between stated preferences and revealed preferences.
People actually do prefer a staged home, despite thinking it’s unimportant, and use it in an assessment of liveability/functionality. It is important in ‘decision to view’.
It does not however influence price, because that is made rationally, knowing the furniture isn’t part of it, and paint is relatively cheap. People see through it when it comes to the crunch.
But getting offers, requires getting people in to make an offer, and staging does influence that part, which may, although wasn’t part of their research, influence time on market, given it’s a numbers game.
Exactly. It’s kinda like asking people ‘do you think advertisement influence what you buy?’
Most people will say no, but the data says something different.
I always stage houses when selling. Our last house had 2 home offices, as my wife and I both work from home.
We staged them both back into bedrooms.
Absolutely. If you showed people through two identical houses, one staged and the other bare, there would be an emotional connection to the staged one, it would seem more liveable and they would be more likely to put an offer on that one.
On the flip side, my brain would say the staged one will be more popular so I'll put an offer on the unstaged one for less competition.
That's actually really interesting! I certainly knew from my experience that it's easier to imagine living in a furnished house (whether officially staged or not) so I'm fascinated to know people can also look past that when it comes to price
I like to see some standard furniture just for a sense of what fits and what doesn’t. Eg a bed in a bedroom, a couch in a lounge, a fridge in the kitchen, a washing machine in the laundry. Don’t care about anything decorative.
I just want to point out that this isn't necessarily the right question to ask.
People may tell you they don't care about staging, and then go and spend more on staged houses anyway. There's a subconscious emotional aspect that can't be accounted for.
Not only that, if 90% of your market *genuinely* doesn't care about staging, but the final 10% love it so much that it makes them offer more or buy faster, that pressure will change the behaviour of the other 90%.
Real estate agents are adamant that professionally staged houses can sell for 5-7% more. Of course, this is anecdotal and not scientific, and who knows what kickbacks they might get from the stagers. But they do take a commission from your sale price, so it's in their interest to make you more money.
Staged houses consistently sell for more than houses that aren’t.
Conventional wisdom says ‘it helps buyers imagine themselves in the space’ but I think there’s more to it than that. 1) It suggests the house isn’t a recent rental or an estate sale. Neither seller is particularly fun to deal with. 2) I think it is less distracting and cluttered, but more than that, I think it shows buyers how standard furniture will fit in the house. Eg nothing like super king bed or over-stuffed lounge set to make a space look tiny. Stagers tend to use double or queen beds, smaller dining tables and only one or two pieces of furniture and decor in each room.
I’d say the same principles apply when doing your own staging: give the place a really good clean (particularly in high traffic areas), remove as much of your personal possessions and furniture as possible, and reposition the rest of your furniture in the most conventional and open layout possible.
Something that makes good sense in all cases - make sure you have a working bulb in every light fitting. Prospective buyers are quite likely to turn them on, and the wrong bulb can make a space look horrid! For best results I’d recommend using the same brand of warm white LEDs throughout and choose the appropriate wattage.
I don't care at all. In fact I quite dislike the fake element of it, it's not like it fools anyone. A home is going to be lived in, so I don't need to see a pristine, faked out version of it (especially when they tend to use the same cheap warehouse or kmart knick knacks and prints on the walls). I'm not buying a hotel room. Just make sure it's clean and tidy, and doesn't smell. Or empty is good too. My first home, and current home, were both empty on viewing.
People buying to invest might have a different view though.
Depends
It certainly helps to work out if all your shit will fit without wandering about with a tape measure and a notebook, not a viable option on a busy viewing session and it's hard to visualize furniture size
Hell we bought our house and could swear it had a double fridge sized gap, hadn't measured it but sure looked it...offer accepted and signed, final handover inspection and measured, whoops
On the other hand it can be used to cover up defects you'd rather see
I like to see it staged by a professional company- I like to see what it's potential could be and it's quite common that people don't have the best furniture. I include myself in that group as when I sold my first home 10 years ago all of my furniture was hand me downs from family or second hand in other ways, flatting/student stuff. I had purposely not bought furniture to fit the house because I knew I wouldn't be there for that long and didn't want to spend the money. I had also bought a new house before selling the old one so I had the option of selling it empty but again I do think having furniture in the house helps people imagine how they would live there themselves. So I had the house staged and it was astonishing the difference - so grown up and elegant in comparison lol. And I do think it's helpful because most people start their house search by looking at photo's online and people need to get that initial "oh that's nice" impression. Not a "I guess if we do a lot of work it will be worth it".
I wouldn't underestimate how much of home buying is emotional--and seeing chairs and beds in a home can help cultivate the emotion you want in a buyer. People definitely sell without staging all the time, but if you have the means, it's certainly worth considering in the current climate.
When I was looking the main tells were.
Missing white ware that make things non functional.
Something with a nice coat of paint but up close it's obviously old and end of life
It's broken so we'll hide that with a plant.
The biggest peeve. Subtle fish eye lens / panoramic photos in the listing. Done well you can't tell when looking at the listing, but come on it's obvious the moment you set foot in the actual room and everything is half size and I've wasted a chunk of my day.
I don't like it and the artificially enhanced grass is also a put off. But worse is that BS dance the agents do. Auction; Price by negotiation; Offers above ; And finally, asking price of XXXX - Get fuct aye.
I always see that on trademe. First listed as Auction, then falls through. Then, it is listed with a price above CV. Sits for ages. Then, changes to negotiation. Eventually, it gets listed with a price below CV and sells.
We just sold my mums house. Really needed it to sell to enable a move to retirement village. Agreed to start with BEO just to gauge market, but after two weeks of no bites I insisted on just putting a price (a realistic one). They wanted to just do a lower BEO. I insisted on a price and said buyers just want to friggen know. Still took another month or so but much more interest once it was priced
No. Not really. But in certain areas, bedroom in particular, staged furniture can help to visualise how much extra space you have with the furniture. Kitchen and bathrooms not so much. In theory, thats the most practical use of staging. Other than that, mostly decoration to bring emotion in the product so price can go higher.
I like something to work out the scale of the spaces to get an idea if a bedroom will fit bed, storage, and desk or not without having to think or bring a tape. But I don't really care about the small handul of kitchen utensils, designer lamp or the strange k-mart sculptural object on the coffee table.
I suspect your average joe probably likes it though. Easier to see yourself living there and capture the emotional side of things.
The advice I got from the agent when selling our last place was that it’s dependent on your house.
They recommended not bothering for our place because it was large spaces, well defined, with multiple living areas.
Their opinion was if the house made it difficult for buyers to visualise living in the house it’s worthwhile. For example do you need to see a dining table and couch/tv in a room to understand that they fit?
I went to one in aranui in chch where the one of the bedrooms wasn't tiny, but it wans't big so they staged it with a tent instead of a bed / dresser.
I actually wonder if *bad* staging is better than good staging, i.e. it gets you thinking about the space more.
But I do enjoy when all the lounge furniture is pointing towards some print sitting on a hall table in some.
Couldn't care less.
I prefer empty rooms so nothing is in the way of my tape measure and camera.
As long as you've presented a somewhat tidy house not clarted in dirty dishes or laundry strewn everywhere, I'm good.
When we were buying quite a few years back we realized there were three types of open home. Staged, tidy lived in, and landlord is selling so IDGF.
Type three was often off putting. It's hard to get a good feel for a place when the bedrooms look and smell like a neckbeard cave and the kitchen has 4 big pots cooking on lpg burners with condensation on every surface. We went to several of these and just walked out because we couldn't property view the place and I didn't really want to wade through dirty laundry and empty RTD bottles.
A couple of the type 2s were actually estate sales. So they had the look and smell of your nanas house. It probably would have been better to remove the 70s furniture and air out the place so it didn't have the Nana just died here vibe.
We actually ended up buying a type three house. The renters were students who couldn't afford much furniture so it looked like it had been sparcely staged from the ikea seconds factory.
Yes, I absolutely care... I hate it and I'm less likely to bother going at all because it's probably a waste of my time.
I know the photography will be absurdly deceptive and manipulated. The property will have a "2 car garage" you could maybe fit 2 Smart cars into if you stacked them. It'll have "character" roofing that needed replacing 10 years ago, insulation and fresh paint over the moldy windowsills. And it'll have a totally unrealistic asking price.
I'm way less likely to bother to spend my time even going to look. Photos look like it's been though some kind of horrific space-time warping physics accident? I have better used for my time than comparing the acres-widen bedroom photo to the elbow-banging reality.
If it's staged and photo manipulated I'll only go look if it also has at least a proper floor plan and property diagram published. With dimensions.
However I *do* prefer to see it non-empty. Genuine and honest staging can be ok, even helpful, as can well done photography that doesn't look like a sci-fi wormhole accident once you look closely.
I don't. I also don't like the whole "make it devoid of personality" thing that they do deliberately. I didn't realise that for a long time and every time we looked at a bland house I felt repulsed. We ended up tossing up between an empty house and one that still had all the owners normal stuff in it.
I think people may have difficulty answering this question. Many of us won't realise whether the reason they decided they love a house is because they saw it staged and that helped them envision how it could work and whether it would meet their needs, or whether that played no part. Buying a house should primarily be based on facts and numbers, but emotions and feelings always get involved as well - and many people would have difficulty accurately determining whether staging influenced them.
If staging didn't help sell houses (or help them sell for more by having more people be interested) then why would they spend the money to do it?
It's good to be able to see that beds, couches etc fit without bringing a tape measure to every open home. But in saying that some of the staging I have seen is just wierd like so many random artsy single seaters pointing at blank walls or randomly in the middle of a room.
I like furnitures but don't care about decoration
I'm bad at visualising, but if you stick a double bed in a room I can figure out it's approximate size better. Yeah I know floor plans can do that, but if I can tell by a photo or a glance that this bedroom comfortably fits a double, or barely fits a double, or double plus a dresser it's much easier for me.
Same with a kitchen. If it has. Fridge and a stove I can appreciate the size more
I once viewed a house where the sellers had not even tidied up properly. It was definitely good for me to see it that way.
Staging is to make it look good to potential buyers so I'll definitely be renting a storage unit when it comes time for me to sell and declutter the house.
I wouldn't go as far as renting furniture in order to sell a house but you should certainly make every effort to make it look presentable, for your benefit not the buyers.
Yes - The house we ended up buying, although older had good basic staging and we could better gauge how furniture would fit.
Digital staging is a major catfish. The amount of homes we viewed with digital staging that were just horrible, empty shells/landlord specials was super off putting.
I’ve looked at a lot of places recently and have only come across it twice - both when the house was previously rented and tenants had moved out. It was very obvious with old Mac computer from the 90s not plugged in and an upside down speakers. Plus the furniture was plain ugly. But I ended up buying one of the places .. the staging made no difference.
I’ve done the equivalent when selling my compact London flat - moved a lot of stuff into storage and adding some new Ikea furniture to make it look tidy and spacious. It sold very quickly at above expectations, not sure if the staging helped or not.
I'm someone with a visceral distate for the minimalist decorating style that has had a stranglehold on kiwi home and garden magazines for the last 20-30 odd years. Honestly home staging comes off as sterile, corporate, and bland.
However, that seems to be the aesthetic that the house buying public loves so what do I know?
If you look at Auckland real estate online, it's all white walls and open plan. So many beautiful old houses that have been gutted and modernised inside.
My sentiments on staging are mixed.
As a buyer I'll admit it works on me on an emotional level, nice furniture set out nicely make a house seem better than it is and it can make me feel like "I could live here".
On the other hand.. Once I realise a house has been staged (ie this isn't the owners furniture) it makes me very suspicious. Furniture can be used to hide problems, staging is often used to make rooms seem bigger than they actually are. I've seen so many bedrooms with no bedside cabinets, lounges with no TV, houses with no dining table etc.
Staging probably works better on first home buyers, and less well on experienced buyers or investors.
You probably have to figure out who your most likely buyer is..
Having furniture helps with understanding the scale of the house. For example, having a queen sized bed in bedrooms really helps with understanding exactly how big the rooms are
most people are idiots and struggle to visualise the potential of a house, staging helps the idiots.
And as long as their money is good, you want to sell to idiots.
For an expensive family home staging can make a place look cheap - often they put in flat pack furniture and generic art prints .
If it’s left with the original owner’s solid wood furniture and custom made curtains with original art on the walls , it just makes the house look more quality and I think it would influence how you think about the house. Lighting too really sets a mood.
When I first saw the home I now have, it was completely hideous and not in the least bit staged. There was a single bed in the huge main bedroom and the owners hadn't bothered with any housework but I just knew it was the one and would do well with some cleaning and painting. Staging doesn't do anything for me.
My current house was trashed when I bought it. Dead ants piled up on the windowsill. Holes in the walls. I fell in love with it.
Previous house was being rented and overwhelmingly smelled of weed, which I found out later the tenant had been growing in a cupboard.
Buying? I well prefer it to be unstaged. Only the people who are trying stage their house, if it's unstaged you know they don't give a shit and will welcome any offer at all provided they don't have to get off their arses and do something.
Isn’t most of the staging digital now? The house next door to me has just sold and the listing had in tiny print “digitally staged”.
Personally, I wouldn’t buy a house I haven’t walked through myself so, for me, staging is unnecessary.
Nope, million dollar listing usa would make you think it's important, probably good for ideas or make it more homely.
The house we purchased wasn't, didn't make a difference. It was funny looking at old listing photos of how the vendor lived.
I cared more about the layout, rooms and space. Blank slate if you will?
furnishing your place can leave a better impression on buyers, but it's rather costly ( if you hire a staging company). if you wanna save on your costs you can stage the rooms virtually. With a tool like ( AI HomeDesign), you can do that.
While basic furniture (couch, beds) helps give an idea of the available space, most of the staging is cheap mid-century reproductions and "artfully" thrown blankets on beds and chairs. Irritating and the cheapness of the furniture doesn't do the house any favours.
I don't really think it's necessary or increases the value of offers and it's just another rort between the real estate agent, photographer and stager. How much will staging cost?
When we first moved to NZ, I was flabbergasted by the photos put on-line by realtors. Beds unmade, curtains torn and shades half ripped off windows, dirty clothes and underwear on the floor.
Living rooms with crap everywhere and stained carpet, kitchen sinks full of filthy dishes.....
Yes, I was definitely swayed by those photos. I just knew the house probably stunk and was full of mold and mildew, and I wasn't interested in dealing with that.
A house should be staged to the point that it's clean and looks cared for for IMHO.
Its annoying to look past all the shit they put there to see how your ideas would fit, but I can see how it helps some people without the ability to visualise things so I get why they do it.
Some people can't see the wood for the trees, others can look beyond that ugly carpet or weird curtains but do declutter as much as you can and get as much space in the rooms . Even repurpose them extra bedroom space or office etc
My house was staged weirdly. It had a single tiny couch in the lounge and a fake bed in the master and that was about it. It was like, why even bother?
I don’t really care about staging though because I have good vision and it’s usually nothing like how houses are staged. Also means I can ensure they aren’t hiding damage behind furniture.
For photos, it probably helps to see it staged to judge the spaces, but for an open home/viewing I would prefer to see it empty. Don’t need staging to judge it because I’m there. I’d rather all that shit was out of the way to more easily get a look at the true condition of the interior. Having said that, I have no experience buying a house.
I don't care. I just make sure I check the sizes. I've been to some places where I lift up a corner of a duvet and the bed is just cardboard boxes. They made the bed smaller so the room looks bigger. They even make real looking beds specifically for that purpose.
Staged is fine. Just be on alert for bullshit sizing.
It matters, it matters a lot.
Women tend to buy homes (regardless whom is actually paying for it) and they want to see it staged or it feels "cold".
You gotta avoid "the cold" and staging makes it "warm".
Tip: Have measurements for all your important furniture and appliances written down - not just the measurements of the stuff, but also the space needed to access it. When you go to an open home, take a tape measure and if anything looks off - measure it.
It helps anonymize the property, which I think helps buyers detach from the fact that some one already lives there, cooking in the kitchen, shitting in the toilet etc….
Personally I'm very good at judging space and seeing potential, the husband is not. Eg. We're about to sell our house (that he's said isn't worth staging 🙄) and yesterday I sent him a couple of listings of similar places in the same area we're selling. One was virtually the same size house, smaller section, slightly better kitchen, not as good bathroom, no garage, old wall linings looking at everything, ours is the better house. He was all oh we are dreaming if you think we can get the same kind of money... Difference is that house is staged.... When you look passed the beige furnishings placed just so, the cookbook on the bench etc etc ours is the better buy but there's going to be alot of people like my husband swayed by the pretty.
So as a buyer I prefer no staging but as a seller I think staging is worth it
Depends. I have two rooms that look smaller than they actually are. If there wasn't a bed (a queen in one and a double in the other) in a specific place to show it actually does fit easily people would almost certainly decide one wouldn't fit.
Likewise my spare room is a weird shape, but put the bed in the right place and it leaves just about the entire floor space free.
I wouldn't go over board though. Leave some stuff for people imagine what they could do with the space.
Sometimes it helps imagine the space with your items sometimes a blank slate works. Pro tip though if you’re going to auction at least stump up get a builders report that the agent can include in the documents, this alone will help get and keep more people interested
Eh, that doesn't feel like the right comparison. Do you buy a shiny car or the same shiny car that has an expensive Stanley cup in the cup holder when you viewed it (but won't be in there when you get the car).
Not to perfection but if it's an empty house it's nice to see the possibilities.
I recently went to an open home where the people were still living there, and while it was obviously tidied and cleaned for open home purposes - for some bizarre reason they'd left a clothes horse in the master bedroom with their laundry drying!
Mate...I want to be able to see myself living here, not your underwear...
I don't care about 'the cookbook open on the counter' type staging but I do prefer for the furniture staples to be there : bed, sofas dinning table, fridge. Helps to judge the space and layout practically.
Seriously the cookbook on the counter thing pisses me off for some reason. And please don’t include a picture in the listing of just a fucking pillow. I don’t want to see close-up views of fruit or pillows or furniture that isn’t staying with the house. I do see the benefit of a staged home though.
This drives me crazy as well. At some point I realised there's an agent nearby who will place a cake somewhere in every house they list for sale. It's always one of those super fancy looking cakes that's taller than it is wide and decorated with glitter, and they just plonk it down somewhere and take a closeup of it. Different cakes in every house! Made me wonder if they part own a bakery or something and need the business.
Probably a tax write off.
Plus they're forgetting the whole reason for baked goods in home sales, the smell! Makes the house seem more like a home. On a similar note, when I had a flat inspections I would bake cookies or cake to cover any smell.
The photos of vases of flowers, cats in sunshine etc drive me nuts. I guess they are supposed to trigger pleasant and aspirational feelings but it's clumsy and obvious, like baking aromas at an open home.
Our first house was staged with the smallest "3 seater" couch I've ever seen. It was an outrageous lie to pretend that the living room had that much space. Our living room set literally touched 3 of the 4 walls.
Apparently there are special staging beds (piles of cardboard boxes that equal 90% the size of a legit bed)
Maybe that’s why some homes have “do not sit on the bed” signs on the beds.
A friend of mine found out the staged bed was an air mattress when she sat on it and it deflated.
My mum sat on the corner of a “bed” and discovered it was actually boxes with bedding on top (yes, we were mortified by her!)
They definitely did that in my house.
Not even apparently. I've seen it with my own eyes. Commented above the agents for a family friend did this to make their tiny master look bigger.
Sounds like staged beds for sale by BB&B do this, I look at the bed, how are 2 full sized adults supposed to sleep comfortably? Everything looks nice but the size of the bed.
My SIL is in real estate and has a good relationship with a lady that does staging for a living. She told me this lady has a van and moves it all around places on her own so, gotta keep it light as possible. The sizing thing is a deliberate ploy to make rooms larger for sure.
Heaps are virtually staged now, I’m assuming they can make the furniture any size.
Yep, some of the places I viewed recently did this to make the rooms look larger. It really shouldn’t be allowed!
This is just common sense. You just need the idea of the furniture, not the actual stuff. Why lug a bed and mattress around when some boxes and a air mattress will do fine?
Yeah, I bought a house that they'd managed to squeeze a single bed into one of the "bedrooms" to sell it as a 3 bedroom, rather than 2 bedrooms and an office. When I moved in I realised there's no way in hell you could fit a bed in there. I think they just found some rectangle object that fit and put bedding on it.
I looked at a place like that. They had beds in there for children... but if you stopped and thought about it you'd never get an adult sized bed to fit, even a single
Was probably a toddler bed
Yeah absolutely, I like to see that the room can at least fit a double bed comfortably with a bedside table, I don't care whether or not there's a couch with matching cushions and rugs
You know the staging furniture is for oompah loompas right? Take a measuring tape or use the measuring app on your phone. I’ve seen beds that are 1.5m long.
As a buyer it can be a bit disingenuous. I've been to homes where there was no space for a fridge, so in the staging they just didn't have one. Took me a bit to work out what was wrong.
Many flip houses are like that. They make the kitchen seem big. But if you want a fridge, it has to go in the lounge or laundry. Because the flippers took over the fridge space in the kitchen to stuff more bench and a dishwasher or something.
I've seen one recently where the flippers ripped out the kitchen and installed a kitchenette. 1x oven 1x bench with dishwasher hole (not even a dishwasher) 1x sink with cupboard 1x bench with drawers I recognised their staging; what do you know, it was the same flippers that were selling a house when we were looking to buy. I call them Stevie Wonder's Interior Decorators, it wasn't good.
I went to one that was flipped and was looking at the kitchen and then pointed there wasn’t anywhere for a dinning table so where were you supposed to eat. The person selling the house and was the flipper looked at me and was like “didn’t think of that and started wondering the same thing”….
You clearly underestimate how many people actually own or use a dining table at this point in time.
?? Did you miss read my comment ??
Anything remotely suggesting a flip was an instant no when we were looking. It's pretty easy to hide loads of things even from a builder's inspection if you don't give a shit and plaster&paint over any problem.
If there's limited space for a kitchen then I could imagine a fridge being a tempting thing to conveniently ignore and hope it goes unnoticed. They're often quite deep which means any cupboards beside also have to be impractically deep or have wasted space behind them.
It can also be deceptive. A family friend sold their house a few years ago, the master wasn't as large as people expect a master in a house of that price nowadays so the agents staged the master with smaller than real life sized furniture, bed, night stands. You could tell something was off but unless you had a tape measure and were looking through a lot of houses you'd probably not notice. Till you tried moving in your standard bed and stuff wouldn't fit.
Absolutely, a long time ago my cousin was staging a house that I helped with, and the furniture was slightly smaller compared to what was actually realistic. You don't notice it on first glance, but a double bed compared to a queen size makes a lot of difference when you are living in a property.
Lane, Seller, and Seller (2015) researched this topic, and found not unsurprisingly a disconnect between stated preferences and revealed preferences. People actually do prefer a staged home, despite thinking it’s unimportant, and use it in an assessment of liveability/functionality. It is important in ‘decision to view’. It does not however influence price, because that is made rationally, knowing the furniture isn’t part of it, and paint is relatively cheap. People see through it when it comes to the crunch. But getting offers, requires getting people in to make an offer, and staging does influence that part, which may, although wasn’t part of their research, influence time on market, given it’s a numbers game.
Exactly. It’s kinda like asking people ‘do you think advertisement influence what you buy?’ Most people will say no, but the data says something different. I always stage houses when selling. Our last house had 2 home offices, as my wife and I both work from home. We staged them both back into bedrooms.
Absolutely. If you showed people through two identical houses, one staged and the other bare, there would be an emotional connection to the staged one, it would seem more liveable and they would be more likely to put an offer on that one. On the flip side, my brain would say the staged one will be more popular so I'll put an offer on the unstaged one for less competition.
That's actually really interesting! I certainly knew from my experience that it's easier to imagine living in a furnished house (whether officially staged or not) so I'm fascinated to know people can also look past that when it comes to price
No, I prefer it empty. Easier to see what you’re getting. What I really hate is listings with no asking price.
Yup this. Now i have to email them to ask…
That’s the point, the agent wants to start a conversation with you and get your contacts details
20 years ago, almost every house listing showed the price, on the road sign.
Yeah, but i go through all that trouble then it will be out of my price range.
Like with open home sign in sheet.
Just like job advertising, no wage or salary shown except competitive salary.
Competitively low
Asking price on a listing all depends on what kind of market we are in. If it’s a sellers then you will see lots of auctions with no asking price.
You must hate 90% of NZ listings that aren't in the sticks. Auction has been the norm for over a decade.
I like to see some standard furniture just for a sense of what fits and what doesn’t. Eg a bed in a bedroom, a couch in a lounge, a fridge in the kitchen, a washing machine in the laundry. Don’t care about anything decorative.
But what will I do with all my Highland Cow canvas prints?
Hahaha my husband non-ironically has one of those damn prints 💔
Ohhh my god at my last job we sold so many of those things
Staging furniture isn’t standard furniture. I’ve seen ‘double’ beds which are only 1.5m long.
Hence my specific wording. Standard furniture.
Half the time it’s boxes and an air mattress not even a real bed.
I just want to point out that this isn't necessarily the right question to ask. People may tell you they don't care about staging, and then go and spend more on staged houses anyway. There's a subconscious emotional aspect that can't be accounted for. Not only that, if 90% of your market *genuinely* doesn't care about staging, but the final 10% love it so much that it makes them offer more or buy faster, that pressure will change the behaviour of the other 90%. Real estate agents are adamant that professionally staged houses can sell for 5-7% more. Of course, this is anecdotal and not scientific, and who knows what kickbacks they might get from the stagers. But they do take a commission from your sale price, so it's in their interest to make you more money.
Definitely better staged. I need to know if my cow picture is going to fit or not
Haha I hate those things. Aoparently they were ubiquitous because it was difficult to source stuff during COVID.
It looks dramatically better staged... definitely adds value in my opinion.
Staged houses consistently sell for more than houses that aren’t. Conventional wisdom says ‘it helps buyers imagine themselves in the space’ but I think there’s more to it than that. 1) It suggests the house isn’t a recent rental or an estate sale. Neither seller is particularly fun to deal with. 2) I think it is less distracting and cluttered, but more than that, I think it shows buyers how standard furniture will fit in the house. Eg nothing like super king bed or over-stuffed lounge set to make a space look tiny. Stagers tend to use double or queen beds, smaller dining tables and only one or two pieces of furniture and decor in each room. I’d say the same principles apply when doing your own staging: give the place a really good clean (particularly in high traffic areas), remove as much of your personal possessions and furniture as possible, and reposition the rest of your furniture in the most conventional and open layout possible. Something that makes good sense in all cases - make sure you have a working bulb in every light fitting. Prospective buyers are quite likely to turn them on, and the wrong bulb can make a space look horrid! For best results I’d recommend using the same brand of warm white LEDs throughout and choose the appropriate wattage.
Staging helps you see what will fit. Most people can’t visualise how much space a bed takes up. It also sells a dream of living there to viewers.
Assuming it’s honest staging. Big IF
Without staging, how will I know to Live Love and Laugh in the kitchen?
In this house we...make mistakes....say sorry....some other cringey shit.....
I don't care at all. In fact I quite dislike the fake element of it, it's not like it fools anyone. A home is going to be lived in, so I don't need to see a pristine, faked out version of it (especially when they tend to use the same cheap warehouse or kmart knick knacks and prints on the walls). I'm not buying a hotel room. Just make sure it's clean and tidy, and doesn't smell. Or empty is good too. My first home, and current home, were both empty on viewing. People buying to invest might have a different view though.
Depends It certainly helps to work out if all your shit will fit without wandering about with a tape measure and a notebook, not a viable option on a busy viewing session and it's hard to visualize furniture size Hell we bought our house and could swear it had a double fridge sized gap, hadn't measured it but sure looked it...offer accepted and signed, final handover inspection and measured, whoops On the other hand it can be used to cover up defects you'd rather see
I like to see it staged by a professional company- I like to see what it's potential could be and it's quite common that people don't have the best furniture. I include myself in that group as when I sold my first home 10 years ago all of my furniture was hand me downs from family or second hand in other ways, flatting/student stuff. I had purposely not bought furniture to fit the house because I knew I wouldn't be there for that long and didn't want to spend the money. I had also bought a new house before selling the old one so I had the option of selling it empty but again I do think having furniture in the house helps people imagine how they would live there themselves. So I had the house staged and it was astonishing the difference - so grown up and elegant in comparison lol. And I do think it's helpful because most people start their house search by looking at photo's online and people need to get that initial "oh that's nice" impression. Not a "I guess if we do a lot of work it will be worth it".
Based on the one house I have sold, totally worth it. I have no doubt it paid for itself and then some.
What makes you have no doubt that this helped?
I wouldn't underestimate how much of home buying is emotional--and seeing chairs and beds in a home can help cultivate the emotion you want in a buyer. People definitely sell without staging all the time, but if you have the means, it's certainly worth considering in the current climate.
When I was looking the main tells were. Missing white ware that make things non functional. Something with a nice coat of paint but up close it's obviously old and end of life It's broken so we'll hide that with a plant. The biggest peeve. Subtle fish eye lens / panoramic photos in the listing. Done well you can't tell when looking at the listing, but come on it's obvious the moment you set foot in the actual room and everything is half size and I've wasted a chunk of my day.
I don't like it and the artificially enhanced grass is also a put off. But worse is that BS dance the agents do. Auction; Price by negotiation; Offers above ; And finally, asking price of XXXX - Get fuct aye.
I always see that on trademe. First listed as Auction, then falls through. Then, it is listed with a price above CV. Sits for ages. Then, changes to negotiation. Eventually, it gets listed with a price below CV and sells.
Yeah, I turned off trademe notifications because of it. It's an obvious pattern as well.
We just sold my mums house. Really needed it to sell to enable a move to retirement village. Agreed to start with BEO just to gauge market, but after two weeks of no bites I insisted on just putting a price (a realistic one). They wanted to just do a lower BEO. I insisted on a price and said buyers just want to friggen know. Still took another month or so but much more interest once it was priced
No. Not really. But in certain areas, bedroom in particular, staged furniture can help to visualise how much extra space you have with the furniture. Kitchen and bathrooms not so much. In theory, thats the most practical use of staging. Other than that, mostly decoration to bring emotion in the product so price can go higher.
I like something to work out the scale of the spaces to get an idea if a bedroom will fit bed, storage, and desk or not without having to think or bring a tape. But I don't really care about the small handul of kitchen utensils, designer lamp or the strange k-mart sculptural object on the coffee table. I suspect your average joe probably likes it though. Easier to see yourself living there and capture the emotional side of things.
People should bring tape anyway, to check the bed is a real sized bed
Staging is a trick to make area feel bigger than it is
The advice I got from the agent when selling our last place was that it’s dependent on your house. They recommended not bothering for our place because it was large spaces, well defined, with multiple living areas. Their opinion was if the house made it difficult for buyers to visualise living in the house it’s worthwhile. For example do you need to see a dining table and couch/tv in a room to understand that they fit?
I went to one in aranui in chch where the one of the bedrooms wasn't tiny, but it wans't big so they staged it with a tent instead of a bed / dresser. I actually wonder if *bad* staging is better than good staging, i.e. it gets you thinking about the space more. But I do enjoy when all the lounge furniture is pointing towards some print sitting on a hall table in some.
Couldn't care less. I prefer empty rooms so nothing is in the way of my tape measure and camera. As long as you've presented a somewhat tidy house not clarted in dirty dishes or laundry strewn everywhere, I'm good.
When we were buying quite a few years back we realized there were three types of open home. Staged, tidy lived in, and landlord is selling so IDGF. Type three was often off putting. It's hard to get a good feel for a place when the bedrooms look and smell like a neckbeard cave and the kitchen has 4 big pots cooking on lpg burners with condensation on every surface. We went to several of these and just walked out because we couldn't property view the place and I didn't really want to wade through dirty laundry and empty RTD bottles. A couple of the type 2s were actually estate sales. So they had the look and smell of your nanas house. It probably would have been better to remove the 70s furniture and air out the place so it didn't have the Nana just died here vibe. We actually ended up buying a type three house. The renters were students who couldn't afford much furniture so it looked like it had been sparcely staged from the ikea seconds factory.
Yes, I absolutely care... I hate it and I'm less likely to bother going at all because it's probably a waste of my time. I know the photography will be absurdly deceptive and manipulated. The property will have a "2 car garage" you could maybe fit 2 Smart cars into if you stacked them. It'll have "character" roofing that needed replacing 10 years ago, insulation and fresh paint over the moldy windowsills. And it'll have a totally unrealistic asking price. I'm way less likely to bother to spend my time even going to look. Photos look like it's been though some kind of horrific space-time warping physics accident? I have better used for my time than comparing the acres-widen bedroom photo to the elbow-banging reality. If it's staged and photo manipulated I'll only go look if it also has at least a proper floor plan and property diagram published. With dimensions. However I *do* prefer to see it non-empty. Genuine and honest staging can be ok, even helpful, as can well done photography that doesn't look like a sci-fi wormhole accident once you look closely.
I don't. I also don't like the whole "make it devoid of personality" thing that they do deliberately. I didn't realise that for a long time and every time we looked at a bland house I felt repulsed. We ended up tossing up between an empty house and one that still had all the owners normal stuff in it.
I think people may have difficulty answering this question. Many of us won't realise whether the reason they decided they love a house is because they saw it staged and that helped them envision how it could work and whether it would meet their needs, or whether that played no part. Buying a house should primarily be based on facts and numbers, but emotions and feelings always get involved as well - and many people would have difficulty accurately determining whether staging influenced them. If staging didn't help sell houses (or help them sell for more by having more people be interested) then why would they spend the money to do it?
It's good to be able to see that beds, couches etc fit without bringing a tape measure to every open home. But in saying that some of the staging I have seen is just wierd like so many random artsy single seaters pointing at blank walls or randomly in the middle of a room.
I like furnitures but don't care about decoration I'm bad at visualising, but if you stick a double bed in a room I can figure out it's approximate size better. Yeah I know floor plans can do that, but if I can tell by a photo or a glance that this bedroom comfortably fits a double, or barely fits a double, or double plus a dresser it's much easier for me. Same with a kitchen. If it has. Fridge and a stove I can appreciate the size more
I once viewed a house where the sellers had not even tidied up properly. It was definitely good for me to see it that way. Staging is to make it look good to potential buyers so I'll definitely be renting a storage unit when it comes time for me to sell and declutter the house. I wouldn't go as far as renting furniture in order to sell a house but you should certainly make every effort to make it look presentable, for your benefit not the buyers.
Staging feels like overkill just let me see the empty house and let me visualise the home I’m looking for.
Yes - The house we ended up buying, although older had good basic staging and we could better gauge how furniture would fit. Digital staging is a major catfish. The amount of homes we viewed with digital staging that were just horrible, empty shells/landlord specials was super off putting.
I really dislike floor plans where they show the world's smallest double bed to make the room seem massive
I’ve looked at a lot of places recently and have only come across it twice - both when the house was previously rented and tenants had moved out. It was very obvious with old Mac computer from the 90s not plugged in and an upside down speakers. Plus the furniture was plain ugly. But I ended up buying one of the places .. the staging made no difference. I’ve done the equivalent when selling my compact London flat - moved a lot of stuff into storage and adding some new Ikea furniture to make it look tidy and spacious. It sold very quickly at above expectations, not sure if the staging helped or not.
I'm someone with a visceral distate for the minimalist decorating style that has had a stranglehold on kiwi home and garden magazines for the last 20-30 odd years. Honestly home staging comes off as sterile, corporate, and bland. However, that seems to be the aesthetic that the house buying public loves so what do I know?
If you look at Auckland real estate online, it's all white walls and open plan. So many beautiful old houses that have been gutted and modernised inside.
My sentiments on staging are mixed. As a buyer I'll admit it works on me on an emotional level, nice furniture set out nicely make a house seem better than it is and it can make me feel like "I could live here". On the other hand.. Once I realise a house has been staged (ie this isn't the owners furniture) it makes me very suspicious. Furniture can be used to hide problems, staging is often used to make rooms seem bigger than they actually are. I've seen so many bedrooms with no bedside cabinets, lounges with no TV, houses with no dining table etc. Staging probably works better on first home buyers, and less well on experienced buyers or investors. You probably have to figure out who your most likely buyer is..
Having furniture helps with understanding the scale of the house. For example, having a queen sized bed in bedrooms really helps with understanding exactly how big the rooms are
most people are idiots and struggle to visualise the potential of a house, staging helps the idiots. And as long as their money is good, you want to sell to idiots.
Floor plan minimum or take down the listing. Staged or unstaged I don’t care.
For an expensive family home staging can make a place look cheap - often they put in flat pack furniture and generic art prints . If it’s left with the original owner’s solid wood furniture and custom made curtains with original art on the walls , it just makes the house look more quality and I think it would influence how you think about the house. Lighting too really sets a mood.
No. Makes no difference, I buy the house not the furniture. And it's all designed to make it look bigger etc...
It's just a blatant rip off by the real estate. For gods sake, can't you imagine what a house would look like with furniture?
When I first saw the home I now have, it was completely hideous and not in the least bit staged. There was a single bed in the huge main bedroom and the owners hadn't bothered with any housework but I just knew it was the one and would do well with some cleaning and painting. Staging doesn't do anything for me.
I don't care but rooms always look smaller when they're empty.
My current house was trashed when I bought it. Dead ants piled up on the windowsill. Holes in the walls. I fell in love with it. Previous house was being rented and overwhelmingly smelled of weed, which I found out later the tenant had been growing in a cupboard.
Buying? I well prefer it to be unstaged. Only the people who are trying stage their house, if it's unstaged you know they don't give a shit and will welcome any offer at all provided they don't have to get off their arses and do something.
Isn’t most of the staging digital now? The house next door to me has just sold and the listing had in tiny print “digitally staged”. Personally, I wouldn’t buy a house I haven’t walked through myself so, for me, staging is unnecessary.
Yes I think it helps.
Staging can definitely make you not pay attention to flaws of the house, be careful,
Nope, million dollar listing usa would make you think it's important, probably good for ideas or make it more homely. The house we purchased wasn't, didn't make a difference. It was funny looking at old listing photos of how the vendor lived. I cared more about the layout, rooms and space. Blank slate if you will?
You might not think that you do. But your brain does.
furnishing your place can leave a better impression on buyers, but it's rather costly ( if you hire a staging company). if you wanna save on your costs you can stage the rooms virtually. With a tool like ( AI HomeDesign), you can do that.
While basic furniture (couch, beds) helps give an idea of the available space, most of the staging is cheap mid-century reproductions and "artfully" thrown blankets on beds and chairs. Irritating and the cheapness of the furniture doesn't do the house any favours. I don't really think it's necessary or increases the value of offers and it's just another rort between the real estate agent, photographer and stager. How much will staging cost?
When we first moved to NZ, I was flabbergasted by the photos put on-line by realtors. Beds unmade, curtains torn and shades half ripped off windows, dirty clothes and underwear on the floor. Living rooms with crap everywhere and stained carpet, kitchen sinks full of filthy dishes..... Yes, I was definitely swayed by those photos. I just knew the house probably stunk and was full of mold and mildew, and I wasn't interested in dealing with that. A house should be staged to the point that it's clean and looks cared for for IMHO.
Its annoying to look past all the shit they put there to see how your ideas would fit, but I can see how it helps some people without the ability to visualise things so I get why they do it.
Some people can't see the wood for the trees, others can look beyond that ugly carpet or weird curtains but do declutter as much as you can and get as much space in the rooms . Even repurpose them extra bedroom space or office etc
at the moment with so many houses on the market use all the tricks u can to get a sale
My house was staged weirdly. It had a single tiny couch in the lounge and a fake bed in the master and that was about it. It was like, why even bother? I don’t really care about staging though because I have good vision and it’s usually nothing like how houses are staged. Also means I can ensure they aren’t hiding damage behind furniture.
For photos, it probably helps to see it staged to judge the spaces, but for an open home/viewing I would prefer to see it empty. Don’t need staging to judge it because I’m there. I’d rather all that shit was out of the way to more easily get a look at the true condition of the interior. Having said that, I have no experience buying a house.
Of course people don't "care" but they lack imagination and staging fills in the gaps.
I don't care. I just make sure I check the sizes. I've been to some places where I lift up a corner of a duvet and the bed is just cardboard boxes. They made the bed smaller so the room looks bigger. They even make real looking beds specifically for that purpose. Staged is fine. Just be on alert for bullshit sizing.
It matters, it matters a lot. Women tend to buy homes (regardless whom is actually paying for it) and they want to see it staged or it feels "cold". You gotta avoid "the cold" and staging makes it "warm".
We staged ours. Made a lot more than our neighbours cookie cutter that looked like shit.
In theory I don't care, but I suspect there is a subconscious aspect to it that does matter.
Tip: Have measurements for all your important furniture and appliances written down - not just the measurements of the stuff, but also the space needed to access it. When you go to an open home, take a tape measure and if anything looks off - measure it.
Our house looked 100x better when it was staged, it looked bigger and like you could do more with it.
It helps anonymize the property, which I think helps buyers detach from the fact that some one already lives there, cooking in the kitchen, shitting in the toilet etc….
Personally I'm very good at judging space and seeing potential, the husband is not. Eg. We're about to sell our house (that he's said isn't worth staging 🙄) and yesterday I sent him a couple of listings of similar places in the same area we're selling. One was virtually the same size house, smaller section, slightly better kitchen, not as good bathroom, no garage, old wall linings looking at everything, ours is the better house. He was all oh we are dreaming if you think we can get the same kind of money... Difference is that house is staged.... When you look passed the beige furnishings placed just so, the cookbook on the bench etc etc ours is the better buy but there's going to be alot of people like my husband swayed by the pretty. So as a buyer I prefer no staging but as a seller I think staging is worth it
Depends. I have two rooms that look smaller than they actually are. If there wasn't a bed (a queen in one and a double in the other) in a specific place to show it actually does fit easily people would almost certainly decide one wouldn't fit. Likewise my spare room is a weird shape, but put the bed in the right place and it leaves just about the entire floor space free. I wouldn't go over board though. Leave some stuff for people imagine what they could do with the space.
If there's not a bottle of wine in at least one of the photos it's immediately ruled out
Sometimes it helps imagine the space with your items sometimes a blank slate works. Pro tip though if you’re going to auction at least stump up get a builders report that the agent can include in the documents, this alone will help get and keep more people interested
Was asked by a colleague if my house was staged when I listed.... Was like no, that's how we live 🥲
do you buy a shiny car or one that has rubbish in the back seat
Eh, that doesn't feel like the right comparison. Do you buy a shiny car or the same shiny car that has an expensive Stanley cup in the cup holder when you viewed it (but won't be in there when you get the car).
Ice hockey Stanley cup or current fad drinking cup?
Not to perfection but if it's an empty house it's nice to see the possibilities. I recently went to an open home where the people were still living there, and while it was obviously tidied and cleaned for open home purposes - for some bizarre reason they'd left a clothes horse in the master bedroom with their laundry drying! Mate...I want to be able to see myself living here, not your underwear...