Apartment Staging

I recently went thru the same thing. In the end I sold it without staging (super low price). Can't comment if staging works but can tell you re selling the furniture will be a nightmare - if you go that route think of donating it. We were about to go to Cort rental - I know people will jump all over that but something to think of.

i would stage it myself with ikea furniture...people are looking to see if they can fit their things in the layout. Buy an air mattress and you can get a set of linens at target for under $100.

Sorry, Julia, nothing personal, but nothing says desperate to sell like an air mattress on the floor. I would advise either doing it right or not doing it at all when it comes to staging. I think if you invest 5K in professional staging, it will move faster and you will make your money back.

Part of the answer lies in what the space is like. The more difficult it is to envision how one would set it up, then the more staging helps. Studios, odd nooks and awkward spaces can confuse people and well placed furniture can help them see how the space can be used. A straight-forward one-bedroom with nothing unusual? I'd focus on pricing it right. Not worth the headache. And forget about furniture resale. The second you walk out the door of a store with furniture it is all but worthless--the used furniture market is not a good one for making money back. Better to just donate to Housing Works or somewhere that will come and take it away for free--take the tax deduction.

I do prefer to see an apartment with furniture in it then without it. $5-7k seems like a lot for this, you can buy all new furniture for that much money. Or even renovate! I don't think a $500k apartment needs staging, anything over a million probably does. Sounds like a waste of money.

Some of the staged apartments just seem sad. Makes me kind of uneasy, like seeing the boxes of binders with the ML logo, like I'm intruding.

I totally agree with kylewest in terms of the layouts.

For staging, you can go to second hand stores or Ikea and purchase few nice looking pieces to define spaces. It will not cost $5K. If you need some new stuff for your new place, but can live without it for the time being, you can bring them into your old place.

Don't bother staging...make sure it's super clean and list it in "move in condition".

I dont understand what staging is for. The furniture is there but the clothes and other key items are all gone... people are not that dumb.. Why would you leave furniture there, so that people believe that someone still lives there. Forget about it, just move all your funiture out.

I usually stage my open houses with tons of friends and family that come in and out and pretend not to know me and state things like "I better put in a bid TODAY!" so that it's overheard... it's highly effective....

not know me.... hehehehe

Staging is for exactly the reason stated by Kylewest: so that people can envision how that place can work & that things will indeed fit in the space. There is an old axiom I've heard for years from interior designers that a place actually looks bigger with things in it. I do wonder, though, if you've got a cookie cutter $500K apartment, how helpful staging will be.

You can ask the listing agent to split the cost of staging with you. See if that brings the cost down.
Tina
(Brooklyn broker)

A queen size air mattress with nice linens is perfect for the bedroom...people aren't buying the furniture they're looking at the layout and if their furniture can fit.

Also, an empty apartment might give the buyer the idea the seller needs to sell quickly and lower the price.

I got it.... just chalk out the dimensions of the furniture like in a crime scene... hell meet me at Starbucks on 67th and columbus in five minutes and I'll give you my daughter's chalk box...

I've been interviewing brokers...and the one who mentioned staging said she would pay for it.

ValB- if you do go with the staging let us know how it works.. I have been really curious about it

chalking out the dimensions might work..it's unusual, funny and the buyer might go for it.

Bubbles, I'm actually not going to go with that broker. Sorry! The other brokers said it wasn't necessary--and I agree with them for the same reasons said earlier.

thx Julia... hold firm...didn't i promise you 1bdrm you could afford? Didn't I... no I really need to know... who was it that I promised affordable 1bds....?????? Pls tell me it was you :)

dave 16, I used this minimalstic stager/designer who made my 2=bd presentable in 2 hours. Gave me the advice that changed everything right away. And we are not talking $5K.
I think it's ip@lightandairdesign.com

I think the biggest thing is making sure the wall colors are neutral. Linen white seems to work well for everyone.

it was me...

i am actively looking for a 2 bedroom in good conditon in the uws, around 700. i can always tell a staged apt and feel it looks desperate

"Part of the answer lies in what the space is like. The more difficult it is to envision how one would set it up, then the more staging helps."

I absolutely agree: we had a penthouse unit at 29 king Street which was a little too "interesting". Huge LR with an odd almost "dome-ish" ceiling and a very small BR. After hearing for the 100th time "you can't even fit a bed in this BR, we put in a bed, a dresser and a nightstand (and as long as were were at it, furnished the resat of the unit as well.

Also, I think you can't both make the argument many are making on this site about how you don't need a broker anymore because people have access to all the information, etc. and still argue that staging (at any significant amount of $) is worthwhile. If in the end everyone is going to go and crunch numbers with "perfect" info to come up with a value, there isn't going to be a place in that calculus for "staged or not staged". I think staging was much more important when people were making quick, emotional decisions based on first glances and not doing a lot of "numbers" research. I really don't see how you can argue for both.

"i am actively looking for a 2 bedroom in good conditon in the uws, around 700."

$700,000 or 700 square feet? Because the bedrooms in a 700 sqft. unit are going to be closets. And if you mean $700k, I do not think you are going to find that for under $800k.

great solution is www.inFormedSpace.com. they designed a contemporary line of display furniture that comes in flat and is set up in a few hours. It looks amazing and it's a fifth the price of staging with real furniture (and looks better actually).

In my experience virtual staging does the trick vs very expensive physical staging. You won't worry about expensive daily rental rates and scratching the floors.