Staging that actually moves the price

We have sold enough homes now to say this plainly: most staging spend does not come back. Full furniture rental on an occupied house almost never does.

Three things that do

Paint, in one colour, everywhere. Light — replacing every bulb in the house with the same colour temperature, which costs about sixty dollars and changes every photograph. And removing roughly a third of what is in the house, which costs nothing but a weekend.

Then spend on the inspection

A seller who hands over a clean pre-inspection wins more negotiations than a seller with better cushions.