What is Staging?
Staging is anything you do to prepare your home for sale and to make it more attractive to a buyer’s eye. Staging helps present a home in its best possible light, and includes cleaning, de-cluttering, adding color and arranging furnishings. It’s a little bit of theater–your property is the "set" and furniture and accessories are "props." It’s different from decorating, which is personalizing a space. Staging is about neutralizing a home so that it will appeal to the greatest number of potential buyers. It’s selling your space, not your things. Buyers need to be able to "mentally move in"–to picture themselves living in your home–before they’ll make an offer. Think of it this way: You wouldn’t sell your car without having it detailed first. Staging is kind of the same idea–it’s like detailing for your house.

How common is staging?. Nationally, only about one in five properties on the market is staged, though that number is rising as the concept spreads.

Even in slow markets, staged homes sell while others sit. It’s a small investment with a potentially huge return.