How Much Does Portland Home Staging Cost?
Whether you’ve sold a home or not, you’re probably aware of the practice of home staging. The process of transforming a home into an interior design showcase has become a common practice in the real estate world. We know staging works, but considering staging costs and the potential return on your investment, is it really worth doing?
To help answer this question, we explored Portland’s professional staging services to see the going rates in 2023. We also looked to national experts in the real estate world to learn more.
Read on to see what we discovered and decide if home staging suits you.
What is Home Staging, and What Does it Offer Sellers and Buyers?
Staging is done in occupied and vacant homes to enhance attractiveness and desirability. Adding furniture and decor to an empty home will give it a more lived-in, yet polished, appearance and help potential buyers envision the space beyond empty, echoey rooms. Likewise, staging will transform an occupied home into one appealing to many potential buyers. Homeowners wishing to sell their homes turn to professional home designers for their expertise. The practice is beneficial to all parties involved.
The Benefit of Home Staging From a Seller’s Real Estate Agent Perspective
We turned to the National Association of Realtors® to see how home staging impacted homeowners wishing to sell their homes. According to the NAR Home Staging Report from 2023, the most common rooms staged are the living room (91%), kitchen (81%), primary bedroom (81%), and dining room (69%). Nationally, the median cost for professional home staging was $600, with 20% of agents reporting a 1-5% increase in the dollar value offered by buyers, and 14% of agents reporting between a 6-10% increase, along with a slight decrease in time on the market according to 27% of realtors.
The Benefit of Home Staging from a Buyer’s Real Estate Agent Perspective
While it’s true that staging is a big benefit to sellers, it also helps buyers. A NAR Report from 2021 further shows that 47% of buyers’ agents claimed a positive effect on home viewings, with 82% saying staging allowed buyers to envision the property as their future home, which can nudge them toward making offers faster. Buyers deemed staging in the living room, primary bedroom, and kitchen most important. As with sellers’ agents, buyers’ agents also reported a 1-5% increase in the dollar value offered by buyers, with a slight decrease in time on the market.
What Does Home Staging Cost in Portland?
As with all services, home staging prices can vary. So can the approach and results you get. Before we get to the details of what we learned from consulting three top Portland home staging companies, here are some basic home staging practices.
What to Expect from the Home Staging Process
When looking for a professional stager, look for those who will take the time to give you a well-informed quote for their services. Expect they will meet you at your home, take measurements and photos, and be willing to hear about your budget, after which you should receive a prompt estimate. If they don’t offer a portfolio of their past work or have photos on their site, ask.
You’re paying for the stager’s expert service, which includes their time to conceptualize an artful representation of your home, which generally includes installation, de-staging, and the first 30 days of furniture and decor rental. If your home doesn’t sell within that time frame, you’ll be paying for an additional month of rent. Some stagers offer prorations for cases like this. You can expect the rent portion for the first 30 days of the quote to comprise about 20-40% of the full quote. The total cost will depend on the number of rooms to be staged and the square footage of your home.
How Top Portland Home Stagers Work and What They Charge
We consulted three reputable staging companies in Portland that offer some of the best staging services you’ll find in the city. We asked about their consultation processes and ballpark estimates for staging a 2,000-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath home. Here’s what we found.
My Inspired Spaces—Expect to pay anywhere from $175 to $275 for a consultation with My Inspired Spaces, depending on the size of your home. These consultations, done on occupied homes, last about an hour. During the walk-through, they will take photos and determine any existing pieces that can be used in staging, which can reduce the bid by $100-300. A report will follow within 1-2 days and address furniture arrangement, color recommendations, editing, curb appeal, and minor update recommendations (if needed), along with a room-by-room plan and a checklist. Staging will include the living room, kitchen, dining room, primary bedroom, and bathrooms, with a cost of somewhere between $1,800-$2,400. My Inspired Spaces will also include a bid for partial staging in their report. If your home doesn’t sell within the first 30 days, they offer prorated fees as follows: 30% of the total staging fee for a full 30-day extension, 20% for a two-week extension, and 10% for a one-week extension. You can also get outdoor staging with Inspired Spaces, as their inventory allows, for anywhere between $150-$250.
Chancellor Designs—Chancellor Designs charges $425 for a 60- to 90-minute consultation on an occupied home. You can expect to see a full report within one day that covers recommendations for decluttering and organizing, styling and staging, and painting and repairs. A staging proposal and a checklist are also included in the report. For vacant homes, they’ll do a complimentary walk-through and include photos, measurements, and an estimate. The $4,658 quote from Chancellor Design is for the design, installation, and removal of the entry, living room, dining room, kitchen, primary suite (including bath), powder room, hall bath, and two other bedrooms. Their prorated rate is $1,042; for outdoor staging, the cost is $460 for dining and $650 for seating. They also offer a Pre-List Polish, which entails them coming to your home to help you with hands-on decluttering and organizing, along with arranging your furnishings and belongings. Their half-day rate for this service is $525, with the full-day rate at $975, depending on the scope.
Art and Space Staging—Art and Space does two different types of consultations. Their free staging consultation lasts about 15-30 minutes, depending on the size of the home. This consists of a walk-through to get them oriented to the space for staging. They also take photos, measure, and briefly discuss the budget. Their full design consultation lasts about an hour, costs $400, and includes a walk-through and all the items you get with their free consultation, along with paint color recommendations, fixtures and finishes, furniture placement, and how to work with existing items in the home. Art and Space will give you an estimate on the spot or over the phone. Their basic staging package costs $2,000 for a 30-day period and includes the living room, dining room, kitchen, bathrooms (one full and one half), and primary bedroom. Extra rooms, like an office or additional bedroom, run about $400 each. After the first 30-day period, Art and Space will prorate staging time with a flat $1,000 fee for an additional full month or more refined breakdowns by the day if your home sells before the second 30 days is up.
Is it Worth Staging a Home in Portland?
It’s reasonable to experience sticker shock when you realize that professionally staging your home will cost you a few thousand. But remember the ROI you stand to see—1-5% more on your sales price. Based on the numbers from a 2020 survey of staged homes from the Real Estate Staging Association, 85% sold for 5%-23% over the list price. We need to consider the source, remembering that RESA has some self-interest attached to these numbers. However, even selling your home for a mere 2% over the list price could bring you a return on investment of 300%. Who can say no to that?
Here’s another way to think about it: The most recent RMLS report shows that the median price for homes in the Portland metro area is $575,000. A $2,000 investment in home staging is a mere 0.35% of that price, a fraction of a percent.
Considering the current Portland real estate market slowdown, if you’re selling, it’s a good time to stage a vacant home or get a staging consultation on your own décor.
Signs of Good Home Staging
What sets apart good home staging from the rest? Since most home staging companies have their own style, it all boils down to how well they decorate the space. There are a few key factors that unify all home staging presentations. For example, the first thing that home staging brings to your home is a lack of clutter. While home staging companies ensure that spaces are well-decorated, they remove the usual clutter that makes up our homes. That way, each space has a lived-in but pristine appearance. This makes each room like a blank canvas where buyers can see themselves living in the space.
However, don’t let the concept of a blank projection space fool you: home staging is not about leaving your home empty. These stagers use furniture to create the illusion that a new buyer could immediately move into a home and have everything the way they need it. Since, in most cases, you don’t want to pay the cost of staging your whole home (though you can definitely invest in full-home staging if that’s something you’d like), most staging focuses on primary lived-in spaces, including the living room, kitchen, offices, and bedrooms.
These spaces are decorated in such a way as to allow potential buyers to see themselves moving into the space and making it their own while still providing something attractive to look at. While you could technically follow some of the home staging suggestions to stage your own home, there’s a certain expertise an expert brings to home staging, making it worthwhile to work with the professionals.
There’s also the bonus of home staging companies using their own furniture, as this allows for a more unified decor aesthetic than many homeowners have. You can get a good feel for this aesthetic on a home stager’s website or by asking for photo examples of places they’ve staged in the past. That way, you can be sure their work matches the overall aesthetic you’d like for your home.
Whether or not the home staging company uses colorful or neutral furniture depends on the space and personal design preference. However, all good decorators know how to take advantage of a space. Good home staging helps expand a room instead of cluttering it. Most furniture stands back from the walls as a sign of extra room instead of pressing up against the walls. There’s a lack of clutter but artful pieces throughout the space to draw the eye from one location to another. Most home staging companies will also add wall decorations to highlight the space.
How to Find a Professional Staging Service in Portland
Sold on the idea of professionally staging your home? Here are a few questions and considerations to remember while browsing staging websites so you can make an informed decision.
What is the company’s aesthetic? Take a look at the company’s online portfolio and see if you like its style. The goal isn’t to match your style but to create a staged environment that appeals to a variety of people. The main goal is to determine if you’re looking at a company of professionals.
How many rooms will you stage? Professional stagers will give you input about which rooms are best for staging in your particular situation. You might want to stick with the essential spaces mentioned above if you have a budget. If you opt to do more, be sure to ask how much the stager charges for additional rooms.
Is outdoor staging a good idea? Many people think of only a home’s interior when considering staging. But if your home has a usable outdoor space that will be used as a selling point, enhancing it could pay off in the long run. Remember, though, that outdoor furniture can run a bit higher.
What does the stager charge monthly, and do they offer prorated fees? A prorated monthly rent could save a lot if your home sells in the month following your first full 30 days. If you and your agent feel confident about your home selling quickly, prorated fees probably won’t be a concern. Keep an eye on the Portland real estate market to see how quickly houses and condos are selling.
What is their consultation process, and what do they charge? While companies will vary in their processes and fees, do your due diligence and inquire about what you’ll get during the consultation (E.g., photos, measuring, budget discussion) and after (E.g., clear quotes, reports, and recommendations).
Want to Make the Most of Selling Your Home?
Staging or not, having a professional and experienced licensed real estate agent by your side is essential to moving your home quickly and getting the best asking price possible. Contact our top 1% seller’s agents today at 503-714-1111 or chat with the bot on our site. With our 4% max. commission rate and marketing that goes above and beyond what you’ll find with other agents, we can sell your home faster and for more. We also pay for complimentary staging consults for our clients and offer special discounts if they choose to stage a vacant home. Contact us for details.
