Hi all, I'm just beginning the process of selling a house and would like to see if anybody has experience or opinions on staging a house for sale. I read MMM's article on how to sell a home and am most curious about staging. It seems like a worthwhile expense on a certain sized/priced home, but may have a diminished payback on a smaller, more basic home. The only experience I have was with the house I just purchased. It was furnished by the tenants when I viewed/inspected it, then empty when I moved in. There is definitely a different feeling to an empty house that would not be attractive to most buyers. Does anybody have any insights? Is there a time when staging might not be worth the expense?
My specific situation:
Selling 3 bed/2bath (1300 sq ft.) 2 car garage (600 sq ft) ranch house that was a rental for 3 years while moved for school and eventually relocated.
House is currently empty
Local staging company advertises $0.75/sq ft to stage for 30 days. Would be ~$1000 for this house.
I'll be asking somewhere between $220-$230K.
Trim/finishing/cabinets and counters are all basic, builders grade, but the house has in floor heat and vinyl siding.
I need to sell by December to qualify for 2/5 capital gains exemption.
The local market for this type of home is not over saturated, but there are plenty of comps on the market. My gut feeling is that I will need to stage it for it to sell at all. $1000 to rent furniture for a month sounds ridiculous to me but I think it will pay off.
Another topic covered by other articles on FSBO is getting the asking price right. Should I just pay for an appraisal up front to help me price it right? Will a buyer's bank accept a month old appraisal or will they require another? It seems like $500 might be worth it if it speeds up the process by getting the price right and reducing closing costs for potential buyers. What do you think?
Thanks in advance for your responses.