Real estate brokers from coast-to-coast agree that staging a home prior to sale is necessary to attract buyers and maximize sale price. Agent suggestions to that end are almost rote. Yet heading into the final weeks of spring 2021, it is possible that most homes will sell regardless of staging. The market in some areas is so hot that extra effort seems quite unnecessary.
Picture a Salt Lake City home that hits the market at 9 o’clock in the morning. By 3 o’clock, it already has two competing offers. There will be at least a couple more on the table before the close of business. At this point, does it really matter how effectively the home was staged? Real estate agents might say ‘yes’, but common sense dictates otherwise.
Why Homes Are Staged
Understanding why homes are staged is as easy as understanding the term itself. What do you do on a theater stage? You create a scene that helps the audience immerse themselves in the story. You stage to encourage imagination. It turns out that this is exactly why you stage a house.
Interior designers at Salt Lake City’s CityHome Collective explain that your chances of selling quickly and at top price rests in the buyers’ ability to imagine themselves living in your home. Staging creates a scene designed to encourage imagination. It all sounds logical.
Now, consider an environment in which there are 5 to 10 buyers for every available house. All of those buyers need a place to live. Most will eventually get to the point where anything will do. Their desperation is that which ultimately leads to sellers receiving half-a-dozen competing offers within a few hours.
Buying Sight Unseen
If you asked the real estate agents at CityHome Collective, they would probably tell you that a lot of clients coming in from out of town are willing to buy sight unseen. They see pictures online accompanied by detailed MLS listings. Based on that information alone, they contact their agents and make an offer.
It turns out you can do a lot with a good camera and decent lighting. You can sell a home without having to stage at all. And that’s exactly the point of this post. Staging is an excellent strategy when a market is either balanced or trending toward buyers. It might even be helpful in a market slightly tilted toward sellers. But when the market is so tight that people are willing to aggressively compete to the point of paying way too much, staging becomes moot.
Prices Are Way Too High
As a side note, looking at the current market in some cities suggests that prices are way too high. We are seeing a real estate market very reminiscent of the final years leading up to the 2008 housing crash. If we are not careful, we are going to usher in Housing Crash 2.0.
The thing about real estate is that it is a pure supply and demand industry. Anyone who believes that supply and demand economics isn’t real either has never bought a house or has done so with their eyes purposely closed. Prices are high now because demand is high. Meanwhile, supply is excruciatingly low. At some point that will change.
In the meantime, you might be thinking of putting your house on the market. Go for it. But ask your real estate agent how quickly homes are getting offers. If your local market is hot enough, you may not have to bend over backwards to stage. Just keep the place clean and tidy and you still might get multiple competing offers.
