Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2009 · 717 posts · 50 votes
Hello, does anyone know how much it would cost for furniture rental, staging designer etc in one full package? I asked a local designer here and she said around $1400 for two months. That sounds a bit high. Thank you.
You don't say where you are, so it's hard to tell...
For reference, we own about 6 sets of staging furniture, and when we're not using them all, my wife does staging for other investors. She charges between 1.5 - 2.5% of the ultimate sale price of the property, payable only when the property sells (regardless of amount of time).
As another point of reference, we have built some good relationships with furniture wholesalers and suppliers (and also gets a lot off Craigslist) and can stage a 3/2, 2000 sf house for about $2500 in new furniture. This includes all accessories, pictures, etc.
So, if you plan to do staging of more than one property, it's probably cost effective to just buy the furniture.
You don't say where you are, so it's hard to tell...
For reference, we own about 6 sets of staging furniture, and when we're not using them all, my wife does staging for other investors. She charges between 1.5 - 2.5% of the ultimate sale price of the property, payable only when the property sells (regardless of amount of time).
As another point of reference, we have built some good relationships with furniture wholesalers and suppliers (and also gets a lot off Craigslist) and can stage a 3/2, 2000 sf house for about $2500 in new furniture. This includes all accessories, pictures, etc.
So, if you plan to do staging of more than one property, it's probably cost effective to just buy the furniture.
Thanks Jason, I would buy it, but I just wouldn't know what to buy and style of furniture.
Take a look at the "House Pics" section of my blog. Then take a look at the "Staging Pics" of several of our most recent houses (the ones at the bottom)...
Hopefully that should give you some ideas...
Much of that stuff was purchased at places like American Signature Furniture, Garden Ridge, and on Craigslist...
J Scott, if your set of furnitures are being used for staging to an investor how do you stage your own flipping property? and when those furnitures are not being used(maybe in the beginning time of your business) where did you or do you keep them?
We're generally pretty good at forecasting when we'll need furniture for one of our own staging jobs, so if we know we have three sets available and will only need two sets for the next 3 months or so, we're comfortable using one set for another investor.
When we have extra furniture, we store it in our basement (we have a large unfinished part of our personal residence).
And when we don't have enough furniture, we buy more. Many of our buyers ask for a couple pieces of furniture here and there, so we turn stuff over pretty quickly. I'd say a typical set of furniture lasts 3-4 houses before it's all sold off as part of a deal.
I see... It's interesting to know how you are utilizing those furnitures to sell your homes and also rent them out to people.
Do you consider them as an expense to your company at the end? or are you actually getting your money back. And do you charge your furniture when you sell the house with it?
Thanks.
I pay between $300 - $450 for a whole house stage, per month. With the cost being so low, I can't justify the hassle of searching and buying all the furniture. Then, there's the storage concern for when it's not being used. And then having people move it in and out of the house.
At my stager's price points, I'm honestly not sure how it's profitable for him. I think he does it more for the love of the type of work than for the money.
Do you consider them as an expense to your company at the end? or are you actually getting your money back. And do you charge your furniture when you sell the house with it?
Generally, it only takes staging for one investor (maybe 1.5) to recoup the expense of a set of furniture. So, by occasionally staging for others, it essentially pays for the furniture. Though we've found that staging for others ends up being more of a pain in the butt than it's worth, so we tend to only do it for a select few investors that we have good relationships with.
But, even if we didn't do that, we *EASILY* recoup the expense of the furniture and the storage in our business.
Sometimes we sell furniture piece-meal (for example, a buyer asks to buy a couch along with the house); in those cases, we nearly always sell the piece for more than what we paid. And sometimes a buyer will ask for a bunch of furniture, and we'll negotiate it into the purchase price of the house; again, the higher selling price almost always outweighs the cost of the specific furniture we're losing.
That said, now that we have two babies, the biggest difficult with all the staging stuff is the time it takes to buy the furniture. Because a lot of the stuff is not easy to find again (they were on clearance or purchased off Craigslist), it's a pain in the butt when we have to replace something.
Also, if you can get staging for anywhere near the price Mark is paying, I see absolutely no reason to own your own furniture. Around here, prices are a LOT higher for a decent staging, which is why we do it ourselves.
Try this: Go to a local rent to own store or a mom and pop furniture store and ask them if they'd like to have their furniture displayed at an open house. Have a great open house on a saturday or sunday and allow them to have a representative of their store on site. Also list everything for sale. This is a win-win situation. A lot of times we like to overdo it when it comes to home staging but if you think "furniture store" type decor (simple , not bulky) and are even able to get a furniture store to stage the home you're good to go.
PS: Another tip. You can get pictures, picture frames, and wall art from local artist and also do the same thing. Display at an open house. I do things like this for theatrical stages as well.
How do you all deal with hanging stuff on walls and such, do you go back and re patch and paint everything, or do you leave the walls empty of any decorations?
How do you all deal with hanging stuff on walls and such, do you go back and re patch and paint everything, or do you leave the walls empty of any decorations?
You can use 3M Command products to hang things without making any holes in any walls; of course, there are weight and shape limits to using those, but no extra touch-up required afterward.
J, I can totally feel the efforts that needs to be put in order to find the right one from Craigslist(I've bought many things from it and it's always like that). Sometimes the options are just too many and sometimes it does take up alot of time to find THE ONE. I can see that there are many positives of staging the house when flipping houses but also there are extra works that needs to be pushed in order for the house to get sold in faster time. Seems like staging home is something that really helps the house to get sold and it would always bring positive feelings to the buyers. But at the same time it may need some sort of system that would make things Less Hassle because of the size and the weight which can be a burden. I guess just like any work of business, the extra effort does and will always bring a better results at the end..
Sharlette, sounds like it can be less of work if it all works out. But I'm wondering how long you can keep those in the house for. And is there fees that you'd have to pay to them? or commisions that you get for helping them to sell? Just curious if there's any..
Thanks.
We use a mix of what we have as well as cardboard furniture which is designed specifically for staging. It's fairly inexpensive and you store it in large duffle bags. Easy to assemble and easy to move!
I use furnature form thrift shops. you can buy great stuff really cheap, and when i dont need it i sell it at a garage sale, and always get my money back.
I just went through this with 1 of the houses I rehabbed... whether to pay 1.5-2K to get it professionally staged or just buy furniture.
I was able to buy couch, coffee table, 2 end tables and lamps, console table, dining room table and 4 chairs, wall hangings, and a whole bunch of bowls and random stuff at target for about $2K. I bought it online and they shipped it for free. If you live close to the house you're rehabbing you can even get it shipped right to the house and just track it online and go move it inside once it comes. I just got it shipped to my house then drove it over.
Has anyone considered getting CAD renderings done of the interior of homes showing how they could be laid out and furnished? We are builders, and our son does architectural renderings for us (he's not an architect) We just sold a new home off his renderings, before we even closed escrow on the land! The new buyers wanted to know what the house could look like, with the colors,materials and products they are wanting, so he conposed a virtual tour for them.
I don't know what a CAD draftsperson would charge for this, but seems like it would be cheaper than buying and storing furniture in some instances. I know we'll be using it in our business much more.
Home stagers charge here $30 and hour to give you a consult. They charge about $900 a month to bring furniture and do the whole house. The upscale furniture store in town charges $750 for two rooms for two months, very nice non-tacky stuff. I did a small 3/1 for about $2500 with mostly ikea, some thrift store/junk store and slightly damaged new furniture sales. I'd be able to do better next time, but I think I'm going to try the furniture store. $750 for two months is not bad.
I've found staging is worth the extra time and money. Rather than a bulky mattress, we use inflatable mattresses on our bed frames. Be sure and get bed frames that assemble quickly/easily.