So, you’re wondering how much it costs to stage a home? Let’s cut to the chase. The national average is about $1,849, but I see most sellers spending somewhere in the $832 to $2,927 range. And trust me, this is way more than just fluffing a few pillows. That number represents the professional eye and killer inventory needed to make your property scream “dream home” to buyers.
The Real Price Tag On Home Staging
Trying to pin down the exact cost of staging can feel like nailing Jell-O to a wall, but it’s actually more straightforward than you think. The final invoice boils down to a few key factors: the size of your crib, whether it’s a vacant canvas or you’re still living in it, and how long you’ll need the staged goods.
For a clearer picture, plan on budgeting around $300 to $700 per room, per month for a full staging package. This isn’t just about dropping off a few pieces of furniture. It’s about crafting a vibe, a cohesive, aspirational lifestyle that lets potential buyers walk in and immediately picture their future unfolding right there.
Understanding the Investment
Here’s the mind-shift you need to make: staging is a marketing weapon, not just another line-item expense. You’re investing in a knockout first impression that can make or break a buyer’s decision, with the ultimate goal of selling your home faster and for a bigger price tag.
Costs can definitely push $3,000 for larger projects, but plenty of sellers get an incredible result for well under $2,000. It all comes down to the scope of work.
Staging Service Tiers
The good news is that staging isn’t some all-or-nothing ultimatum. Professionals offer different levels of service, which is awesome because you can find a fit for your specific needs and budget. Knowing your options is the first step to making a brilliant call.
Here’s a simple table summarizing the different staging services and their typical price points to help you figure out what makes the most sense for your sale.
Home Staging Services and Average Costs
| Staging Service | Typical Cost Range | What It Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Consultation Only | $200 – $600 | A pro walks through your home and gives you a detailed DIY action plan. Think decluttering advice, furniture rearrangement suggestions, and decor tips you can execute yourself. |
| Partial Staging | $600 – $2,000 | The stager works with your existing furniture, bringing in rented key pieces, art, and accessories to elevate high-impact rooms like the living room and primary bedroom. |
| Full Staging | $2,000 – $7,000+ | This is the full treatment, usually for vacant homes. It includes renting all furniture, rugs, art, and decor for the entire property, plus the design, delivery, and setup. |
Ultimately, choosing the right service is about balancing your budget with the potential return. For more hands-on advice and a step-by-step breakdown, you should check out our detailed guide on how to stage a home for the biggest impact.
Deconstructing Your Staging Bill
Getting a staging quote can feel like staring at a single, massive number with zero explanation. It’s intimidating. But once you pull back the curtain, it’s just a sum of specific services and tangible goods. Knowing what you’re actually paying for is the key to asking smart questions and feeling confident about the investment.
The first charge you’ll almost always see is the initial consultation fee. This covers the stager’s time and expertise to walk your property, size up its potential, and map out a design strategy. Think of it as paying for the architect’s blueprint before the construction crew shows up.
Next up is the heavyweight champion: furniture and accessory rental. This is almost always the largest chunk of the total cost. You’re not just renting a couch; you’re renting a whole curated vibe—rugs, lamps, art, plants, the works—all chosen to sell a specific, aspirational lifestyle to buyers.
Labor and Logistics: The Unseen Hustle
The physical work of getting your home stage-ready is another huge piece of the puzzle. This isn’t one person dropping off a few chairs. It’s a coordinated team effort that breaks down into several key moves.
- Design and Sourcing: This is the creative heavy lifting—the hours a designer spends hand-picking the perfect pieces from their inventory to fit your home’s unique layout and style.
- Delivery and Installation: This cost covers the professional movers who bring everything to your property, carefully place each piece, and handle any assembly.
- De-staging and Pickup: Once your home sells (congrats!), the crew returns to pack up and haul away all the rental items. This is also baked into the initial cost.
The price reflects a full-service, hands-off package. You’re paying for the convenience of having a pro team manage every last detail, from the creative vision to the final pickup, so you can focus on the sale.
Potential Extras on Your Invoice
Beyond the standard stuff, a few other charges might pop up depending on your situation. It’s always smart to ask about these upfront so there are no surprises down the line.
For example, if your place needs a serious decluttering before the stagers can even begin, some companies offer that as an add-on service. You might also see fees for storing your personal furniture and belongings off-site if your garage is already at max capacity. These extras are all about clearing roadblocks to make the staging as impactful as possible.
Let’s put it in real-world terms. Staging a vacant, three-bedroom house in a popular Los Angeles neighborhood might break down like this: a $300 consultation fee, $2,500 for the first month’s furniture rental, and $1,200 for the all-in labor (design, delivery, and pickup). That puts your initial investment right around $4,000. If the home hasn’t sold after the first month, you’d just pay the rental fee to keep it going. Seeing the breakdown makes that big number make a whole lot more sense.
Vacant vs. Occupied Home Staging Costs
When you’re trying to nail down a staging budget, the first and most important question is this: are we working with an empty house, or are we editing what you’ve already got? The answer changes everything—the scope, the timeline, and definitely the price. It’s the difference between building a car from scratch and giving an existing one a showroom-quality detail. One is a full-scale production; the other is a strategic refresh.
Working with an occupied home is almost always the more wallet-friendly route. Here, the stager isn’t building a vision from the ground up; they’re editing and elevating what’s already there. They act more like a strategic partner, figuring out which of your pieces can stay, what needs to be tucked away in storage, and which key rental items will pull the whole look together. Maybe it’s just some modern art, a few new lamps, or a neutral rug to tone down a busy room. It’s a collaboration.
A vacant home, on the other hand, is a blank slate. That sounds great in theory, but it demands a much bigger investment. Every single thing a buyer sees has to be rented and brought in. We’re talking furniture for every key room, from the living room sofa to the bedroom nightstands. Then there are all the layers that make a space feel lived-in and aspirational: rugs, art, lighting, plants, and accessories. It’s a logistical beast involving more design hours, a truckload of inventory, and the labor to get it all delivered and set up perfectly.
The Cost Difference in Real Numbers
The gap between these two approaches is pretty dramatic. You can often get an occupied home staged for as little as $800 because the stager can leverage your existing furniture to keep rental costs low. But for a vacant home, you’re renting a full house of furniture, which pushes the average cost up to around $2,000 just to get started. If you want to dig into more detailed numbers, you can explore home staging price points on HomeAdvisor.com. It really drives home why the property’s starting point dictates so much of the final bill.
The goal is always the same: make a buyer fall in love. With an occupied home, we’re refining a story that’s already there. With a vacant one, we have to write that story from scratch.
Actionable Tips for Each Scenario
No matter which boat you’re in, you can save yourself some cash and headaches with a little prep work before the pros show up.
- For Occupied Homes: Start the decluttering process before your stager even walks through the door. Pack up the family photos, clear every last thing off the kitchen counters, and get ruthless with your bookshelves. The less editing a stager has to do, the more they can focus on high-impact design—and that can save you money on their hourly rate.
- For Vacant Homes: Get the place professionally cleaned before staging day. I mean deep cleaned—carpets, windows, baseboards, the works. A spotless backdrop makes the incoming furniture look ten times better and helps the final photos pop. Don’t make beautiful rental furniture sit in a dusty room.
Is Home Staging Worth The Investment?
You have to spend money to make money. It’s a real estate classic, but when it comes to staging, sellers get hung up on the upfront cost all the time. It’s time for a mindset shift. Staging isn’t just about making a house look pretty; it’s a savvy marketing move designed to sell your property faster and for more money.
The real question isn’t “how much does staging cost?” It’s “what’s my return on this investment?” The data tells a compelling story. A well-staged home doesn’t just look better online—it sparks an emotional connection the second buyers walk through the door. That feeling often translates directly into stronger, faster offers.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Let’s talk ROI. This is the “why” that justifies the cost. Home staging consistently delivers impressive returns, often hitting over 300% by slashing market time and boosting the final sale price.
The data below paints a clear picture of how staged homes outperform their unstaged competition.
Staged vs Unstaged Homes Performance Data
| Metric | Staged Home | Unstaged Home |
|---|---|---|
| Average Time on Market | 23 Days | 47 Days |
| Sale Price vs. List Price | 98.7% | 94.2% |
These aren’t just minor improvements; they represent a fundamental difference in performance. Staged homes sell 51% faster and capture a significantly higher percentage of their asking price. This isn’t a fluke. Staging helps buyers visualize themselves living in the space, turning a generic property into their potential home.
Staging Is A Sales Accelerator
Put yourself in a buyer’s shoes for a second. An empty room feels cold, sterile, and smaller than it really is. A cluttered room feels like you’re intruding on someone else’s life. But a professionally staged room? It feels aspirational. It feels like home. It spotlights the property’s best features and makes it feel move-in ready.
That powerful first impression directly impacts your timeline. Every day your house sits on the market, you’re bleeding money on the mortgage, taxes, and insurance. By speeding up the sale, staging literally puts money back in your pocket. To get into the nitty-gritty, you can read more about the financial benefits of professional home staging and how it helps you dodge those painful price reductions down the road.
Staging isn’t an expense—it’s a tool. It’s the difference between asking buyers to use their imagination and simply handing them the dream on a silver platter. One is a gamble; the other is a calculated strategy for success.
A faster sale at a higher price is the name of the game. Our guide on how to sell a house fast details plenty of strategies, but professional staging consistently ranks near the top for raw impact. The bottom line is clear: while staging has an upfront cost, the potential return in both time and money makes it one of the smartest investments you can make.
Smart Ways to Budget for Home Staging
Feeling the budget pinch? You’re not alone. The good news is staging doesn’t have to be some all-or-nothing expense that torches your bank account. With a little strategy, you can get that killer first impression without going broke. It’s all about being clever.
Think of it this way: your most important rooms are the headliners of the show. The living room, kitchen, and primary bedroom are where buyers make their biggest emotional connections. It’s perfectly fine—and smart—to focus your professional staging budget there and handle less critical areas, like secondary bedrooms or a home office, with some savvy DIY.
The Power of Soft Staging
One of the most effective budget strategies I recommend is “soft staging.” Forget renting an entire house full of furniture. This approach is all about the high-impact, low-cost details that create a mood.
Think about what makes a boutique hotel room feel so inviting. It’s not the bedframe; it’s the crisp white duvet, the stack of fluffy towels, and the perfectly placed art. You’re aiming for that same vibe by focusing on things like:
- Luxe Linens: New, neutral bedding and plush white towels for the bathrooms are non-negotiable.
- Strategic Lighting: Swap dated fixtures for modern ones. Add a few floor lamps to brighten up dark corners.
- Fresh Greenery: A few well-placed plants (real or high-quality faux) can breathe life into any room.
- Minimalist Accessories: Declutter every single surface. Then, add back a few curated items, like a decorative bowl or a stack of hardcover books.
The goal of soft staging is to sell a feeling of a fresh start, not just a building. It signals to buyers that the home is well-maintained and move-in ready.
Negotiate and Prioritize
Don’t be shy about having a candid conversation with your stager about your budget. Many pros offer flexible packages and can work with you to hit that sweet spot between cost and impact. I’ve seen sellers negotiate a package that includes a professional design for the main living area while the stager provides a detailed DIY checklist for the rest of the house.
This level of preparation is crucial. A complete walkthrough of your property helps identify what to tackle first. To keep yourself organized, using a detailed guide like this checklist for preparing your house for sale ensures you don’t miss a single thing. By prioritizing ruthlessly and mixing professional help with your own elbow grease, you can create a stunning presentation that maximizes your home’s appeal on almost any budget.
Answering Your Lingering Home Staging Questions
Even after crunching the numbers, you’ve probably still got a few “what if” scenarios running through your head. That’s a good thing. It means you’re taking this seriously.
Let’s tackle the most common questions I hear from sellers. This is your final gut-check before you pull the trigger on a staging strategy.
Can I Just Stage The Most Important Rooms To Save Money?
Yes, and you absolutely should. This isn’t about being cheap; it’s about being strategic. Pouring your budget into the spaces that make or break a deal—the living room, kitchen, and primary bedroom—delivers 80% of the impact for a fraction of the cost.
Buyers form their first, and most lasting, impression in these key areas. A skilled stager knows how to prioritize these rooms to create a powerful emotional pull that resonates throughout the entire house, even if the guest bedroom just has a bed and a nightstand.
Who Actually Pays For Staging—The Seller Or The Agent?
Nine times out of ten, the seller pays for staging. You should think of it as a crucial marketing expense, just like professional photography or pre-inspection repairs. It’s an investment you make to maximize your final sale price.
But that’s not always the end of the story. In a competitive market like Los Angeles, a top-tier agent might offer to cover the initial consultation or even contribute to the staging cost as part of their listing package. Don’t be afraid to ask about this when interviewing agents. It separates the pros from the rest.
A great agent sees staging not as an expense, but as a strategic tool to get you more money. Negotiating their contribution can be a huge win for your bottom line.
How Long Does The Staging Furniture Stay In The House?
Most staging contracts are built around a one to three-month initial term. This gives your property enough time on the market to attract the right buyer without feeling rushed.
The furniture stays put until the house sells and closes, or until the contract period ends. If your home is still on the market after the initial term, you can almost always extend the rental on a month-to-month basis. Just make sure you get those renewal rates in writing before you sign anything.
Is Virtual Staging A Cheaper, Effective Alternative?
Virtual staging—where furniture is digitally added to photos of empty rooms—is way cheaper than the real thing. It’s a great tool for your online listing, helping buyers see the potential in a blank canvas.
But here’s the reality check I give all my clients: that digital magic disappears the second they walk through the front door. An empty house feels cold and uninviting in person, and buyers can’t forge that critical emotional connection. The best strategy is often a hybrid approach. Physically stage the key rooms to win them over during the tour, and use virtual staging to flesh out the secondary spaces online. It’s the perfect blend of smart marketing and real-world impact.
At ACME Real Estate, we know that staging is a non-negotiable part of a winning sales strategy. Our team connects you with LA’s best stagers and builds their work into a marketing plan designed to get you the highest possible price. Ready to make your property unforgettable? Let’s talk.
ACME Real Estate | Los Angeles Boutique Real Estate Brokerage