Still not convinced that staging your home is the best idea?
A 2003 HomeGain survey of 2,000 real estate agents nationwide found that moderately priced home improvements, ranging from $80 to $2,800, made in preparation for sale, actually yield the highest returns when a house is sold. Here are the returns you can expect on various home improvements.
Your Return on Home Improvement Investments
| Improvement | Typical Cost | Increase in Sale Price | Average Return | Agents Who Recommend |
| Lighten and brighten | $86-$110 | $768-$935 | 769 % | 84 % |
| Staging | $212-$1,089 | $2,275-$2,841 | 169 % | 76 % |
| Clean and declutter | $305-$339 | $2,093-$2,378 | 594 % | 91 % |
| Fix plumbing, electrical | $338-$381 | $922-$1,208 | 196 % | 63 % |
| Landscape and trim | $432-$506 | $1,594-$1,839 | 266 % | 72 % |
| Kitchen, bath upgrades | $1,546-$2,120 | $3,823-$4,995 | 138 % | 83 % |
| Repair flooring | $1,531-$1,714 | $2,267-$2,589 | 50 % | 62 % |
| Paint exterior walls | $2,188-$2,381 | $2,907-$3,233 | 34 % | 57 % |
| Replace carpeting | $2,602-$2,765 | $3,585-$3,900 | 39 % | 65 % |
Data from 2003 HomeGain survey, at homegain.com
Take a look at some facts pulled straight out of the National Association of Realtors 2015 Profile of Home Staging.
- Among realtors who typically represent the buyer, 49 percent report most buyers are affected by home staging and 47 percent report some buyers are affected by home staging.
- For buyers it is easier to visualize the property as a future home (81 percent), buyers are more willing to walk through a home they viewed online (46 percent), will positively impact the value of the home if it is decorated to the buyer tastes (45 percent), and buyers are more willing to overlook other property faults (28 percent).
- Among sellers’ agents 34 percent stage all homes, 13 percent stage difficult homes to sell, and four percent stage only high price bracket homes. Forty-four percent suggest the seller de-clutter and fix property faults only and do not stage the home.
- The median dollar value to stage a home is $675 for each home.
- Among homes that are staged: 62 percent of sellers’ agents offer the home staging services to their sellers, 39 percent of sellers pay for the home before the home is listed, 10 percent of sellers pay after the home is sold, and three percent of agents’ firms pay for the home staging service.
- The most important rooms to be staged for buyers matches identically to the rooms that are most common to be staged among sellers—in order: living room, kitchen, master bedroom, dining room, bathroom, children’s bedroom, and guest bedroom. Thirty-two percent of buyers’ agents believe staged homes increases the dollar value buyers are willing to offer by one percent to five percent. Nineteen percent say there is no impact on the dollar value, and 16 percent believe it increases the dollar value buyers are willing to offer by six percent to 10 percent.
- Thirty-seven percent of sellers’ agents believe staged homes increases the dollar value buyers are willing to offer by one percent to five percent. Twenty-two percent believe it increases the dollar value buyers are willing to offer by six percent to 10 percent, 10 percent say home staging has no impact on dollar value, and eight percent say home believe staged homes increases the dollar value buyers are willing to offer by 11 percent to 15 percent.
- Twelve percent of real estate agents believe that staging "increases the dollar value of the home" at least 11-20% more
- Only ten percent of real estate agents believe that staging "has no impact" on the dollar value of the home.
- Almost a third (28%) of buyers are more willing to "overlook property faults" when the home is staged.
- Over 95% of buyers agents say that home staging has at least some effect on the buyer's view of the home.
- Over 81% of buyers find it "easier to visualize the property as their future home" when it's staged.