There has been a lot of press about staging homes and many new companies have come on the market to fill that gap advising and performing staging on homes for sale.  Other people do it them selves and many agents have been advising staging for years.  Even simple thing like removing clutter is part of staging.  But, have you though about staging a vacant apartment for lease?

Usually staging is quite pricey, especially if furniture is involved and for leasing purposes it just too expensive, but apartment rental owners can do some very simple things that make apartments much more attractive and will reduce you vacancy rate and attract better tenants.

Over the last year we have been doing just that, staging vacant apartments.  First thing is that the unit which you stage must be prepped and cleaned and the exterior must be attractive.  The assumption is that even with out staging the apartment is ready and fully rent-able . 

Staging’s function is the make the apartment more attractive; make is look warm and welcoming and this must be done with reusable items and with no furniture and on a small budget.

There are 2 main targets of staging; 2 places where it will make the biggest impact.
The kitchen and bathrooms are often the most important places for prospective tenants followed by the other rooms.
Staging a kitchen is fairly simple.  All you need are a few items that will add color and texture.  These can be things like a neutral bowl filled with potpourri, a few cook books, a towel, maybe a bottle of wine, glasses and a bottle opener.  Arrange these so that there is some balance.

In the bathrooms put some nice towels on the towel-racks and bathtub, a small vase with faux flowers and things like a soap dish with a nicely wrapped soap bar, a bowl of colorful beads and a few candles.

While it may be odd to see a landlord arranging towels I assure you that this works.  All our apartments that have had this treatment attracted better tenants and leased out more quickly then ones that we did not stage.  All the items are kept in two small boxes for easy transport.  It takes about 15 minutes to set everything up and less to remove it.  We didn’t spend more then $100,00 on all the items and they are all reusable and expandable if they get damaged.  The most important thing is that everything is new and attractive.    

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