Home staging has become a key part of selling a home quickly and for above the asking price.
If you’re trying to sell your house, you’ll want to make it as appealing as possible to the widest variety of people, and home staging is a great place to start.
Business Insider spoke with Meridith Baer, the owner of Los Angeles-based luxury home-staging company Meridith Baer Home.
Baer said she got her start over 25 years ago after she was told, out of the blue, that she would have to vacate her apartment.
Having nowhere to live or store her furniture and plants, she asked a friend who was trying to sell a “spec house” if she could move her belongings there. She argued it would allow buyers to envision what it would be like to live in the space.
“That particular home sold in a couple of days for half a million over asking, and then my phone started ringing,” Baer said.
What began as a passion project soon flourished into a thriving business. Baer’s company now home-stages about 2,000 houses yearly, holds offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, the Hamptons, and Miami, and employs 350 staffers.
In 2019, a representative for Meridith Baer Home told Forbes the company “could be evaluated at $100 million.”
Baer told Business Insider that the priciest home she’s staged recently was a $200 million property in Florida. However, she also clarified that home staging can benefit any property seller, no matter how big or small the asking price might be.
HomeAdvisor reported that sellers typically pay between $787 and $2,837 for professional home staging, but the cost can be much higher depending on furniture rentals and the property size.
“Pricing is based on the scope of work necessary to make each home look its best. We consider the volume and caliber of inventory as well as the number of hours needed to execute the job,” Baer said.
The investment can certainly pay off. According to a 2021 survey by the National Association of Realtors, 82% of buyers’ agents said home staging made it easier for their buyers to visualize themselves in the home.
Realtor.com also reported in 2023 that staged homes sell 88% faster and for an average of 20% more than non-staged homes.
Here are 10 easy design tips that will make your house more attractive to buyers, according to a professional home stager.
