How does staging work?
Before & After
Which room would you pay more for? Placing the right sized and styled furniture in an empty apartment gives it a bigger look by providing a sense of scale. That’s true whether the home is virtually staged or staged on-site. Click on the photo or use the slider to compare these before & after photos.
Should you stage it?
Professional staging is the highest level of service providing a curated and managed process with total control of the finished look. As a real estate practice obsessed by design and presentation, we believe that most sellers will benefit by improving the marketability of their homes by thoughtful staging and accessorizing. A person’s impression is set within the first few seconds of walking in. It is an experience that we can help you to curate.
Hiring a staging pro to come in and furnish your home with rented neutral furniture, other décor, and painting can be a significant investment. Simple staging (furniture rentals, accessories, styling, painting, and cleaning) on a vacant home will cost a minimum of about $10,000 and up for a one-bedroom apartment, and considerably more for a larger luxury apartment or townhouse. Staging is an expense that sellers should budget for and Corcoran’s RealVitalize™ program can help facilitate that if you want to sell, but money is tight. Read more ▾ Of course, there are many things that can be done short of full-blown staging. We can advise on less extensive tweaks which you can follow through on using your existing furniture, and some updated accessories to lower costs. A fresh coat of paint always work wonders. For many sellers a combination of DIY and a couple of hired pros can get the job done. We can help you to learn where to best target your efforts. Read less ▴
Look your best
One York Street, Tribeca—On-site staging
There is no replacement for solid preparation. Staging is to selling your home, what being well dressed is to a job interview. You want to let people imagine what their lives might look for themselves in your home. Staging showcases your home’s best features and makes your home look better in photos; which is often what spurs a buyer to visit for the very first time. Your first win will be your buyer’s attention in the online marketplace.
First impressions count and there is ample evidence suggesting that staging a home will make it sell faster and at a higher price—but that comes with a price tag. Is it really worth it?
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- Is your home vacant or are you living in it?
- Overwhelmed by a growing family and big plastic toys?
- Is it cluttered with family photos or religious articles?
- Could your space “flow” better?
- When was the last time you painted?
- How can we brighten your space?
- Is it an estate sale?
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Vacant home?
Staging solutions that fit your budget.
We will almost always recommend that sellers at least consider physically staging an empty home. It gives visitors a sense of scale, and will actually make your home feel larger to potential buyers.
- We have professional organizers and stagers that we will connect you with, who will manage the entire process from painting, to furniture rentals, to the perfect towels and toothbrushes.
- If you are more of a do it yourselfer, we will share our recommendations about what is essential to do in the context of going-to-market. You may need an organizer more than a decorator.
- If the idea of full-on staging doesn’t sound workable, we can stage it virtually to at least give an impression of your home’s potential in listing photography that doesn’t show an empty apartment.
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- Virtual staging shows buyers digital photorealistic furnishings dropped into the listing photos. We include this service without charge, but it still might mean a potential buyer walks into an empty apartment. That is the ah ha! moment for many, and a critical decision point for them. Put your best foot forward.
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What’s my home worth?
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Get an instant home value estimate, and subscribe for monthly reports which track your home’s equity in real time. This is a data driven Automated Valuation Model (AVM) . Think the AVM is off? Let us know, and we’ll help fine tune it. Thinking about selling? Request an onsite visit for a pinpoint accurate Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). It’s a free consultation. Learn more about the importance of proper pricing ▸
Do it yourself?
Staging is to selling a home, as what being well dressed is to going on a job interview—we highlight your home’s best features
Can I stage it myself?
Absolutely! Here are some pro-tips about how to prepare your home for sale. Less is more—simplify and declutter. Now is the moment when a a little labor before the listing photos are taken, will pay dividends when you sell. We can help with a complementary staging walk-through where we’ll bring a fresh eye to your home, and advise about what to do. What should stay or go; and how to make your home brighter and more appealing. We offer personalized guidance about how to best spend your time and money on the things that matter most to obtaining maximum value for your property.
333 Park Ave South, Flatiron, Manhattan, Loft.
- Pack up all the clutter. Grandma’s collection of Capodimonte porcelain figurines in the breakfront (and maybe the Breakfront too) should go into your storage unit. It’s a good time to get one if you haven’t got one already. Same with those old pics of Tia Concetta, that very good boy’s dog’s crate, the tinker-toy molecules scattered in the boy’s room, your jars of sand from every beach you’ve been to, and so on…. That doesn’t necessarily mean throwing them out, just send them to storage for now. Go for clean surfaces and uncluttered rooms.
- Deep clean your home. Selling your home will require a deep cleaning. Make the place sparke. One thing you really might want to consider budgeting for, instead of doing it yourself, is a professional cleaning crew. Clean the kitchen, bathrooms, floors, windows— literally everything. If you have a townhouse it’s a good idea to rake the leaves in the yard and straighten up the shed.
- Paint it. Yes please! You should paint. Freshly painted rooms add polish and read as ‘well maintained’ to prospective buyers. Put a fresh coat on rooms that haven’t been painted recently and especially in high traffic areas like near the entrance.
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- Clean the windows! This is a good time to take a look at your floors, too. Clean and polish them. Smooth out those sticky windows and replace any with broken glass or vapor seals. Make the beds everyday.
- Replace all light bulbs with brand new ones that have a warm temperature of about 3500 Kelvin. It will add even, bright, flattering light. Ask your local hardware specialist.
- Touch-up some of the wear, like that spot on the door where the finish is worn down. Address it now before it ends up making the wrong first impression on your buyers.
- Think about a facelift. Own a brownstone with a cornice that’s peeling or a spalling facade? Now would be the time to paint it, fix it, and raise the curb appeal of your property.
- Fix it or toss it out. If it’s broken, replace it. Repair that drippy faucet. Untangle the cords on the blinds in the bedroom. Those burners that don’t work on the stove need to be fixed. Toss-out the vintage wall-to wall carpeting in the bedroom. Anything that hasn’t aged well just might need to go.
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Your dreams have an address™
What are you searching for?We want to buy in a new buildingI need a townhouse expertI want to buy my first apartmentWe’re downsizing into a condoHow do I buy and sell at the same time?What’s my home worth?What’s your dream home?Ask PeterYour dreams have an addressSo where’s next?
So where’s next?
We sell real estate, never your personal data!
Peter Comitini is committed to supporting all fair housing laws
CORCORAN’S REALVITALIZE PROGRAM
Corcoran’s RealVitalize
RealVitalize is a great option that is available to Peter’s exclusive listing clients who want to maximize their sale price, but don’t want to pay the upfront costs of staging and home preparation. RealVitalize pays for the services, and is repaid at the closing table at the time of sale, without hidden fees, charges, or markups. The results are remarkable—most homes using the RealVitalize program sell at or above list price*. RealVitalize lets you make the needed improvements and repairs to prep your home for sale. Use it to refresh the tilework in the bath, or update the kitchen, or anything else in home improvement. We’d love to tell you more about the program details, and make recommendations based upon your particular needs.
Here’s how we can help
- Painting
- Staging
- Room Renovations
- Flooring and Carpentry
- Cleaning and Handyman Services
- Electrical and Plumbing
- Landscaping and Curb Appeal
- Most non-structural improvements
- And more
1 Included 2 Seller paid * Based on program data from Aug 2019 – Jan 2021.
