We hear this all the time! I think all the HGTV shows have given the American public the idea that staging involves ripping out cabinets, flooring, walls and generally rebuilding homes to make them more appealing to buyers. This is absolutely NOT what we do. So what do we do?
We make recommendations that give home sellers a great ROI. If an upgrade is not going to give them a decent return on their investment, we do not consider it.
Here are a few examples of recent clients we helped SAVE a ton of money because what they planned on doing wasn't going to be very appealing to buyers.
The first client owns an 1800sq ft family home. This couple wanted to replace all of the carpet throughout their home. With the average price of carpet nationally being $2.77 a sq ft this would be an investment of almost $5000. This doesn't even include the carpet pad, removal of their old carpet, or installation. When we looked at their carpet we knew all it needed was a good cleaning.....no question about it. So with $5000 in their pockets we got to work. Here is what we did recommend: brushed nickel hardware for the kitchen cabinets $50 and their labor to install, moving the cable lines in the living room so they can change the furniture arrangement (I am not sure of this cost but I will say) $200 and slipcovers for a sofa and two chairs $300. So after our consultation fee of $150 they will spend in total $550 from the suggestions we made which saves them more than $4500. Total Savings $4500.
The next client had a gorgeous dining room with hardwood floors that did not have a rug. The client was moving and had not yet found the home she is moving too. She was planning on purchasing a rug for $1600 to fit in her current dining room so that the room looked more "finished" when buyers came through. Guess what? You are selling your hardwood floors, not your rug. We encouraged her to NOT purchase the rug but rather show off her gorgeous floors. She was very relieved because she had no idea what size her new dining room would be and was afraid the rug would not fit in the new space. Savings? $1600!!
Our next example is a client who felt like she HAD to purchase drapery panels for the four windows in her living room. She has a corner condo unit that gets a ton of light, has gorgeous framework for her windows, and a fabulous view. She had set aside hundreds of dollars to purchase these drapes. We told her the windows were a huge selling feature and to just leave them alone. Buyers love lots of a light and a great view! Total Savings? About $850.
We have lots of other examples of how we have saved clients money while they are preparing their homes for sale. We are just happy when the homeowner meets with us BEFORE they spend the money on the useless upgrades.