Staging a House? Medium Neighborhood?

Question

We have been staging the houses we renovate.  Basically, kitchen table, family room furniture, basic bathroom stuff and a master bedroom.

Our landscaper called us Saturday and said the kitchen table and master bedroom mattress was missing.    So sure enough we got robbed.

The neighborhood is not that bad.  But this has made us debate is staging worth it?  The value of the stuff taken was not huge, but it adds up.

What do you guys do?  We are questioning if we should stage at all?  Should we put up real cameras?  Fake Cameras?  Will that turn off buyers?

Account Closed · Answer

Yesterday, before reading this, I got two timers and planned to put them on lights in the house. I did put a couple of inexpensive tables in the house, and folding chairs, a few towels in the bathrooms. 
Now I will get the light on sooner rather than later. I'm there pretty frequently during the day, as work is being done and I live a mile away.
I thought it was interesting: I went over one night at dusk, and was still there, lights on, when it was dark. Imagine MY surprise when the doorbell rang. (No outside lights were on, but my van was very visible in the driveway. 
It was a teenager, asked if her friend was there (in my house) she said she thought she lived there. 
I have steel security doors, but no window bars.
Ofgift

Jeff NA · Answer

I'm sorry to hear about your misfortune as well. My next door neighbor was robbed about a month ago, most likely while I was home, and I am dumbfounded how someone has the nerves to walk out of a house with a mattress (in your case) or a big screen tv and down a long set of steps, and a number of other big ticket items (in the case of my neighbor).

Like Joshua mentioned, lights on timers are a good idea, but I imagine that these are not your garden variety criminals that are used to stealing packs of bubblegum from Walmart. Whoever hit my neighbor's house (nowhere near a bad section of town, by the way) must have cased it and knew exactly what they were doing. I doubt these people are going to be fooled by lights that come on at exactly the same time every night, especially when there is no car in the driveway. Still though, lights on timers are certainly better than nothing.

I wonder if anyone has any experience with cameras with motion sensors? I've heard about some that will alert your cell phone when activated, but I'm not sure what the details are. Certainly it would need to be able to transmit the images so that whoever is inside can't just walk away with the camera.

With robberies like this one and the theft of copper (and resulting destruction) from houses, there has to be a better answer to this problem. I'd be interested to hear what others have to say.

Jeff

Joshua D. · Answer

When done correctly, staging can be an amazing help!  I've seen some properties without any staging, that started to get offers only after they hired a stager.

I know little about the costs, but assume that you get what you pay for.

As for people stealing from your property, are you in touch with the neighbors of your properties?  Do they know to keep an eye out?  Do you use timers on the lights?  Do the properties look vacant (mail piling outside, etc.)?

The current economic environment will lead to more of this type of behavior all over the place (even good neighborhoods), so you need to be proactive and diligent.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

Lynn Z · Answer

It hasn't caught on here.  The houses that are staged look cheap so taste has alot to do with it.

I'm torn as to the benefits.