Art rental is a specialized service offered by many home staging companies and dedicated art dealers. Art can be incredibly expensive to buy, but is often available for short or long-term lease, for special occasions or for property staging applications. Renting artwork is one of the best ways of really adding undeniable impact to a home staging design and raising the bar on the final aesthetic results.
This discussion details the benefits of renting artwork for real estate staging applications, instead of purchasing it.
How Does Art Rental Work?
Artwork rental is a economical alternative to buying dedicated artistic pieces for a real estate staging project. You simply have to find the art that you like and then work out an arrangement with the owner or dealer to use it for a certain length of time.
Being that home staging is a growing industry, more and more art dealers see the economic potential in this practice and offer incentives to rent beautiful works of art from them. For example, many dealers will offer special pricing to home stagers who use their artwork regularly. This can really help keep the cost down, when renting or leasing artwork for a day or a year.
Many home staging companies actually buy art competitively at auction, so that they can eventually recoup their investment and make ongoing profits from renting the piece out to their clientele year after year.
Art Rental Prices
The cost of renting art will depend greatly on the length of time it is needed and the actual piece and value itself. Most dealers include mandatory insurance coverage as part of the rental fee and if not, you better make sure that your property insurance or business insurance will cover the item, in case of damage or theft. Replacing a ruined or stolen piece of priceless art can become a major financial issue indeed.
Large art pieces might need to be delivered and installed by trained professionals, which may also incur an additional fee. Make sure to discuss all incidentals when discussing the price of any rental with a dealer or stager.
Art Rental Best Practices
While furniture is best known for defining interior home décor, art can really change the entire propertyscape with as little as one striking piece that is expertly placed in an optimal location. Most stagers will tell you that art is one of the most important parts of their home staging strategy and if it is a choice between budgeting more for art or furnishings, they will choose art every time. Of course, this also depends greatly on the location and type of property listed.
In major markets, such as New York, for example, art is an expected part of a complete staging project and can actually single-handedly sell a home, even though it is not included. That is truly incredible.
Remember that although art is open to interpretation, be choosy with your decisions and do not utilize any piece which may be considered controversial, offensive or overly taste-specific.