Why does Home Staging boost the selling price of my home?
 
Emotion is a big part of the home buying process and the impact of how your home is staged plays a big roll in affecting those emotions.

Does Home Staging really make that big a difference?

Most buyers can't look past unattractive or disorganized rooms or figure out how their furniture might look in an empty room.  When a home is staged it creates a fantasy environment that helps the visualization process. 

So if it’s just de-cluttering then why do I need a stager?

Can you effectively step back an view your home through the eyes of the buyer?  Can you really distance yourself from your comfortable living environment to create an effective selling environment?  Can you really look at your home with a very critical eye, noting everything that is wrong?  It goes way beyond just de-cluttering; that’s just a piece of the staging puzzle.  It’s very difficult to set aside your emotions and truly be objective.  You're emotionally involved in your home and the contents so it's hard to be completely objective. It's hard to see your collection of beloved family photos the way a stranger will when they're trying to imagine themselves living in your home.  A home-stager is able to provide you with a very clear third-party view and guide you accordingly. 
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Is Home Staging really that big of a help in selling my home?

A recent study asked several professional home stagers this very question and their answers were all very similar.  It’s hard enough to compete in a balanced market but in a buyer’s market you have to work even harder to get a competitive edge over the other similar houses for sale.  Home owners need to do everything possible, leaving no stone unturned to take out the competition. 

Why spend money on a house I'm selling?
Staging a home and the costs the go along with it are a great investment to ensure that you are getting a higher return when you sell your home. Look at it this way – you are not putting money in to your old home, you are making an investment that will give you a great return.  Why would you try and sell your single largest investment without first making it look as appealing as possible?