One of the hottest trends to sell a home today is home staging, an interior decorating technique for making the most of your home's attributes and making it more attractive for a potential buyer. Home staging has been known to boost home sales prices, as well as quicken the amount of time the home stays on the market. But the question is: What is the pricing for home staging-and is it worth it?

Preparing Your Home for Sale

Most sellers realize the importance of cleaning up their home before putting it on the market. Things like fixing leaky sinks, mending cracks in the walls and completing other minor repairs are also pretty standard. Some people paint; others replace flooring. Some even freshen up the landscaping or add some new interior fixtures. These things are often good to do and, in many ways, are considered forms of "staging," or preparing your home for sale.

There are professionals, however, who will go above and beyond what most homeowners think of when they go to sell their house. For a fee, these individuals and companies will come into your home and furnish it with items that are neutral, attractive and sometimes high-end, in order to make your house as attractive as possible. Home staging costs often include moving around, removing or adding furniture and adding tasteful artwork or other decoration to make your home really shine.

Staging: Is It Worth It?

The main benefit of hiring a professional to stage your home is that they will look at your surroundings with an experienced, tasteful and objective eye. They won't be attached to grandmother's antique table, nor will they have the same affinity you may have for that pink bathroom. They will be able to come in and tell you which items should be removed, what should be added and how best to feature your home.

While home staging may seem like an unnecessary expense, there probably isn't a single house that couldn't benefit from a bit of carefully manipulated staging-even if it's a simple matter of re-organizing, freshening up and removing clutter. And often, suggestions and changes from professionals can amount to significant increases in the bottom line profit when selling your home.

Home staging pricing for a simple consultation run from $200 to $400, yet for extensive staging work on larger homes, be prepared for pricing to run up to $6,000. However, statistics show an average of a 3% minimum increase in final sales price on homes that had been staged, versus those who had not. On a $300,000 home, that's a $9,000 increase-and well worth the home staging fees.

~ Per Mortgage News Daily  01/09/2006