ROI on Staging

What is the return on my investment in home staging? Another question that I hear often. Here are some stats from research done by HomeGain when they surveyed 2,000 real estate agents in each of the U.S. regions in 2007.

In this chart HomeGain separates lighting and brightening the home, decluttering, and curb appeal from the staging process. I believe that most professional Stagers consider all of those to be a part of the staging process. Perhaps by "staging" Home Gain was calculating the impact of furniture placement, room definition, traffic flow, art and accessories and other style choices made by the Stager.


Lighten & Brighten- avg. return 355%
Clean & Declutter- avg. return 578%
Fix plumbing, electrical- avg. return 164%
Landscape & Trim- avg. return 319%
Staging- avg. return 343%
Kitchen/bath updates- avg. return 121%
Repair flooring- avg. return 145%
Paint exterior walls- avg. return 147%
Paint interior wall- avg. return 150%


The research also points out the improvements made in advance of and in preparation for the sale actually yield the highest returns. That supports my mantra, "Stage early to reap the largest rewards."