Staging your home for sale is one of the most reliable ways to ensure it sells for top dollar. A recent survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors found that professionally staged homes sell for 8% more than comparable, non-staged homes. With median US home prices hovering around $400K, that’s a $32K difference, and in the New York metro area, homes often sell for more than $1M, meaning staging your home could make a difference of over $80K in your pocket.
It’s common for sellers to resist staging their homes, since selling can be a highly emotional process. The seller’s journey doesn’t just involve logistics, financials, and paperwork, but also the emotional impact of leaving a home filled with years, and often decades, of memories.
At Triplemint, we work to ensure your home selling process is as seamless as possible, which is why we’ve launched a hassle-free program that fronts the costs for Triplemint sellers to successfully stage their homes.
Let’s dive in and learn why staging your home is one of the best decisions you can make as a seller, how this strategy can help you maximize your return on investment, and how Triplemint’s white-glove, professional services can help you achieve it all – at a fraction of the cost.
A Home After Staging
What is Home Staging?
In its simplest form, staging means preparing your home for a sale by decorating in a way that allows potential buyers to imagine themselves in your space. Staging gives your home an aspirational look-and-feel that makes it look “move-in ready” to potential buyers. This is achieved by decluttering, depersonalizing, rearranging – and sometimes substituting – furniture and personal items. Aaron Seawood, a top Triplemint agent, and founder of Team Carte Blanche, stages his clients’ apartments because “many buyers lack vision. So to help make their purchase decision easier, staging allows the buyer to visualize the space in its highest and best use.” When a home is properly staged, the best elements of the house, like its bright living room, large chef’s kitchen, or walk-in closets, are on display.
Professional stagers are skilled in using specific techniques – such as furniture grouping and color cohesion – which are proven to help make rooms feel larger, brighter, and more desirable. Stagers will often bring in simple, elegant, and modern furniture and decor which has shown to appeal to home buyers, and will help your home fetch its best possible closing price.
Staging also means removing clutter and personal items to minimize distraction. In the same survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors, 82% of buyers’ agents said that decluttering and staging made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as their future home – a crucial first step in the buying process.
Home Staging Benefits & Statistics
The benefit is clear: when a home is properly staged, it sells faster, and for more money. Aaron Seawood elaborates on the benefits of staging by saying “You’re able to see the flow. You are able to see exactly how a space can be defined and designed and you are able to appreciate the space for what it is. It minimizes the negatives and highlights the positives.”
A study done by the NAR found that vacant homes typically take twice as long to sell, and sell for less, than unstaged, “occupied” homes. In fact, 31% of sellers’ agents said that home staging greatly decreased the amount of time a home spent on market. John Antretter, a Triplemint real estate agent, recalled that after staging an apartment for his client, it sold within two days, significantly faster than his non-staged properties. In a Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) report, homes that had not been staged before listing spent an average of 143 days on the market.
The same study by NAR found the average increase in home value due to staging was greater than 8%. Triplemint agent, Natalie Miniard, said that she recently staged a home after which it received 8 offers and sold for $100,000 over asking price.
Home Staging Before & After
If the data hasn’t convinced you to stage your home, just take a look at these before and after staging photos of 35 Prospect Park West, a Triplemint Team Carte Blanche listing, and 201 Luis M Marin Boulevard, PH11, a Natalie Miniard Triplemint listing.
35 Prospect Park West Before & After
Living Room Before Staging: the apartment is incredibly dark with heavy furniture and cluttered wall space. The built-in fireplace, a beautiful feature of the room, is hidden in plain sight among all the furnishings. 
Living Room After Staging: The apartment looks and feels much lighter. It’s clean and modern-looking, with elegant, dainty furniture, white walls, and bright windows. The once hidden fireplace is now front and center. The room feels much more spacious and livable.
Primary bedroom before staging: The bedroom decor is dated, making it difficult for buyers to visualize themselves – and how their furniture will look – in the room.
Primary bedroom after staging: The room looks entirely different; it’s more spacious and elegant. The pop of color from the plant draws attention to the two beautiful, large windows, and the carpet and bedding palette work to brighten the room. Moreover, moving the bed away from the window helps enhance the view and makes it accessible to people touring the home.
201 Luis M Marin Boulevard, PH11, Before & After
Living Room Before Staging: the apartment is brightly painted, and contrasted with a polarizing purple & pink color palette. Such an intense color combination makes it difficult for a viewer to see past the decor.
Living Room After Staging: The apartment is much more natural. It’s clean and modern-looking, with white walls, and neutral wooden accents. The “bones” of the house are on display, and the room feels much more spacious than above.
Kitchen Before Staging: The dark cupboards and cluttered counter space make the kitchen feel small, and the purple walls of the living room clash with the orange kitchen.
Kitchen After Staging: The clean white cupboards and dark grey cabinets are much easier on the eyes than the purples and oranges above. Small color fixes like this allow the buyer to focus on the things that matter (the appliances, wood floors, and spaciousness of the kitchen) rather than get distracted by the contrast of colors.
Bedroom Before Staging: The polarizing bright blue and purple make it tough to focus on the space of the bedroom. The bright windows are diminished by the bright, contrasting colors.
Bedroom After Staging: The simple, natural white and grey color palette meshes seamlessly together and allows guests to focus on the entire bedroom, not just the bed. The floor-to-ceiling windows are illuminated, and the closet space appears larger.
These before & after photos clearly illustrate the impact that professional staging can have on a home’s buying appeal.
I’m Ready to Stage My Home. How Do I Do It?
Selling your home is a multi-step process, and finding the right expert to help you stage, will often be the best way to go. Triplemint offers a bespoke white-glove staging and delivery service that can handle any home, large or small. Triplemint will front the costs of staging until closing and handle all selection, delivery, and assembly of furniture. Curated furniture – including rugs, artwork, lighting, and large pieces – can be delivered in as little as seven days, at a fraction of traditional staging costs.
To learn more about whether these staging services might be right for you, talk to a Triplemint agent today.
