In April 2026 we finished a full transformation of a Scottsdale home for an investor client: kitchen, bathrooms and an outdoor lounge. It went on the market, drew multiple showings, and within 5 days it had a full asking price offer. The way we put it at the time: buyers can feel the quality the second they walk in.
One sale is one sale. A larger picture comes from the National Association of Realtors' 2025 Profile of Home Staging, a survey of Realtors taken in February 2025 and published that May.
What the agents said
- Buyers picture themselves in it. 83% of buyers' agents said staging made it easier for a buyer to envision the property as their future home.
- It can sell faster. 49% of sellers' agents saw staging cut the time on the market: 30% a slight decrease, 19% a significant one.
- It can lift offers. 29% of sellers' agents reported a 1% to 10% increase in the dollar value offered; among buyers' agents, 17% saw a 1% to 5% increase.
Staging is furniture and styling, not construction. But it shows off whatever the house already is, and the same survey points to the rooms buyers look at hardest.
Start with the rooms buyers notice
Buyers' agents named the living room as the most important room to stage (37%), then the primary bedroom (34%) and the kitchen (23%).
Those are the rooms where renovation money shows. In a kitchen that means cabinets, countertops and light; in living rooms and bedrooms, the floor running through and fresh paint. The Scottsdale home's living room got a dark stone fireplace wall under recessed lights.
Clean, clear, and the front of the house
Before listing, the improvements sellers' agents recommended most were decluttering (91%), cleaning the entire home (88%) and improving curb appeal (77%).
The front is the first photo in a listing and the first thing a buyer sees from the street. On a Mesa rental we turned around, that meant a full exterior repaint and fresh gravel in the front for clean curb appeal; in Scottsdale, a new front yard of gravel behind a horizontal wood-slat fence.
For investors
A flip or a rental turn has a deadline and a budget, so it helps to spend where buyers look: the living room, the primary bedroom, the kitchen and the front of the house, then the floors and paint that tie the rooms together. That is the kind of work we do for investors, from rent-ready turns to listing prep.
Sources
- NAR report reveals home staging boosts sale prices and reduces time on market, National Association of Realtors, May 6, 2025 (the 2025 Profile of Home Staging)
