Staging is not one-size-fits-all. Our in-house staging process helps us make a thoughtful plan for each listing, then prepare the rooms and details that will have the greatest effect on a buyer's first impression. Here are six homes we prepared and sold, with the list price, the sale price, and how long it took.
The six homes
52 Condor Road, Sharon. Our own renovation, a 1978 colonial. Listed at $1,195,000, prepared through our in-house staging process before photos, under agreement the first weekend, closed at $1,243,500. Four bedrooms, three baths, 3,282 square feet.
5 Meadowhill Court, Unit 47, South Easton. A two-bedroom townhouse in Meadow Hill. Listed at $395,000, staged, multiple offers, sold in one weekend for $450,000. That is $55,000 over list and the highest price ever paid in the community.
142 Norwell Street, Dorchester. Listed by Arthur Murray on our team at $695,000, staged in-house, under agreement the first weekend, closed at $730,000.
75 Foundry Street, Unit 30, South Easton. Another Meadow Hill townhouse. Staged, listed, and sold the first weekend for $405,000, $30,000 over asking.
11 Wilshire Drive, Sharon. Our 1,753-square-foot cape flip. Staged room by room so a small four-bedroom read as a full house. Listed at $749,000 and sold at $749,000 in April.
483 South Main Street, Sharon. A 1950 cape, family-owned for over 65 years. Staged before listing, sold for $681,000 in May.
What the numbers actually say
Four of the six sold over asking, by $30,000 to $55,000. The other two sold at asking. Five of the six went under agreement the first weekend. None sat.
I want to be careful about what I claim here. Staging did not add $55,000 to a townhouse in Easton on its own. Pricing did a lot of that work, and so did the photography, the launch timing, and a buyer pool that was ready. What staging does is make sure none of that effort is wasted on a buyer who walks in and can't picture the room. An empty living room reads small. A living room with a sectional, a rug, and a lamp reads like a living room. That is the whole trick, and it is worth a lot more than it costs.
How our in-house staging works
Most agents who "offer staging" call a staging company, get a quote, and pass it to you. The quote depends on the stager's calendar and what's in their warehouse that week. Because we own the furniture, we stage every listing we take, we don't wait on a third party, and we don't cut rooms to hit a budget. The primary bedroom, the living room, the dining room, and the kitchen get done every time. Extra bedrooms, offices, and porches get done when they'll change the photo.
It also means we stage occupied homes, not just vacant ones. About half of what we stage is a house someone is still living in. We edit what's there, bring in what's missing, and photograph it the next morning.
What this means if you're selling this fall
If you list with us, staging is not an add-on you decide about later. It is part of how we bring a house to market, and the results above are why. If you'd like to see what your home would look like staged and what we think it would sell for, start with a valuation and we'll walk through it room by room.
Amanda Rosen leads Modern Boston Living, a Greater Boston real estate team ranked in the top 1.5% nationally, with an in-house staging company. More from the journal · Recent sales