Why I Don't Believe Every Home Needs Professional Staging

I don't look at staging the same way many agents do. That doesn't mean I don't believe staging works. I do. What I don't believe is that every home needs to be professionally staged before it goes on the market.

Every home is different. Some benefit from professional staging. Others simply need a fresh set of eyes, a little rearranging, and a few simple changes to help buyers focus on the home instead of what's in it.

Professional staging can absolutely make sense in some situations. Vacant homes, luxury properties, or homes with unusual floor plans often benefit from bringing in furniture and accessories to help buyers visualize the space.

But that's not every home.

Many of the homes I've sold were prepared for the market using the owner's own furniture and décor. Sometimes all it takes is rearranging a room, removing a few pieces of furniture, improving the lighting, or simplifying a space so buyers notice the home's best features instead of everything in it.

The goal of staging isn't to make your home look like a model home. The goal is to help buyers see themselves living there.

Every home has its own strengths. My job is to identify what buyers are going to notice first and decide where our time and effort will make the biggest difference.

Before I ever suggest spending money, I ask myself one question: Will this help buyers see the home more clearly? If the answer is yes, we'll talk about it. If the answer is no, I'd rather save my sellers the expense.

And when a family is still living in the home, bringing in rented furniture often doesn't make sense. I don't want to tell a family they can't sit on their own sofa, use their dining room, or live comfortably for weeks while their home is on the market if we can accomplish the same goal another way.

When I walk through a home, I look at it through a buyer's eyes. I ask myself what buyers will notice first, what features deserve more attention, and what small changes might make the biggest impact. Often, those improvements cost very little.

Every home needs a focal point. If it doesn't have one, I create it.

There are some excellent professional stagers, and there are homes where hiring one is absolutely the right decision. I'll recommend it when I believe it will truly benefit the seller.

Preparing a home for sale isn't something you learn from a certificate alone. It comes from experience, looking at hundreds of homes through buyers' eyes, understanding how people actually live in their homes, and knowing which changes will make a difference and which ones won't.

No two homes are exactly alike. I don't believe they should all be prepared for the market the same way. My job is to help sellers make the right decisions for their home, based on its strengths, the current market, and the buyers we're trying to attract.