Q&A: How much does it cost to stage a home?
Q: I'm trying to sell my home. It is about 2,500 square feet. It is empty of furniture. How do I go about staging my home, renting furniture and hiring someone to stage, and what is the cost of a project for about a three-month period? Generally speaking, what does a stager charge as a fee for a three-bedroom home with a family room? I do not require high-end furniture, just tasteful.
Ginger Williams, Port Jefferson
A. Professional home stagers in the area typically charge by the hour for their services. The hourly rate can run about $150 and up. Mandy Laderer, an ASP-certified home stager, estimates that a vacant, 2,500-square-foot home with three bedrooms should take about three hours to stage, costing up to about $500.
A vacant home is easier to stage than an occupied home, so the staging service might cost a little less. But you will have to pay for furniture rental. You can pay the professional stager for furniture selection, or rent it yourself. The stager will meet the rental truck and oversee placement of the furniture and accessories. CORT Furniture Rental in Farmingdale charges about $130 to $272 per month for a bedroom set and from $105 to $264 per month for living room furniture, depending on the type of furniture and the term of the lease. Whole-house packages are available as well.
If you plan to do the work yourself, you can get an initial walk-through assessment and written report by a professional stager for $50 or so. Or try an online consultation from Long Island Premier Homes, using digital photos of your home instead of a walk-through. The price ranges from $20 for a single room to $150 for up to 10 rooms plus the home exterior.
Don’t skimp on the little touches, advises Laderer. “You’ve got to sell the sizzle. We can gussy it up to make it look a little more presentable,” she says. Make sure you’ve got plush, neutral bedding with decorative pillows in the master bedroom, and a nicely set dining room table, Laderer says. “You can dress it up with accessories and turn an ordinary room in to an extraordinary one … Put candles on the side tables and lamps,” she says. “Marshalls is my biggest playground for home staging. The things are so inexpensive …There are cute little things you can do to really spruce it up.”
Buying, selling or renovating your home and need some advice? E-mail your question to realestate@newsday.com.
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