Today, I will talk about staging your home with your own furniture and decor. In the industry, it is known as occupied home staging, property styling, or property enhancement.

If you’re thinking of selling your home, you might have heard of home staging. Home staging is the process of preparing a property for sale by making it look more attractive, spacious, and inviting to potential buyers. Home staging can be done for vacant or occupied homes, but in this blog post, we’ll focus on the latter.

What is occupied home staging?

An occupied home staging project is when the home stager works with your existing furniture and belongings rather than bringing in new items or renting them. We, the home stagers, will use our expertise and creativity to rearrange, declutter, and accessorize the home to highlight its best features and minimize any flaws.

What is a stager’s role in an occupied home staging?

Our role as a stager with an occupied home staging project is to help you, the homeowner, make your property look more appealing to a wider range of buyers while still allowing you to live comfortably in your space. We will typically do the following:

• Conduct a consultation with the homeowners to assess their needs, goals, budget, and timeline. If you haven’t had a chance, please read my blog post about consultations.
• Provide a detailed report with recommendations on what to keep, remove, store, or update in each room of the house.
• Assist the homeowners with executing the recommendations, either by doing it themselves or hiring other professionals such as painters, cleaners, or movers.
• Add finishing touches such as artwork, pillows, plants, or candles to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere.
• Take before and after photos to showcase the transformation and attract more buyers.

Occupied Home Staging Project, St. Albert, Alberta. Sold within 30 days April 2023

What are the benefits of occupied home staging?

An occupied home can offer many benefits for both the homeowners and the buyers. Some of the benefits are:

• It can save money and time by using what you, the homeowner, already have rather than buying or renting new items.
• It can reduce stress and hassle by allowing the homeowners to stay in their home during the selling process, rather than moving out or finding temporary accommodation. Oh, and an FYI, every client of mine gets a whole package of checklists, do’s and don’ts, and resources sent to you to help you make sure you keep your home picture perfect for showings!
• It can increase the perceived value and desirability of the home by making it look more spacious, bright, clean, and updated.
• It can appeal to a larger pool of buyers by creating a neutral and inviting environment that suits different tastes and lifestyles.
• It can lead to faster sales and higher offers by creating a positive first impression and emotional connection with the buyers.

The average percentage of owner-occupied staging projects that sold over the listing price through Jan-Sept. 2023 was approximately 45.%- Real Estate Staging Association

If you’re interested in learning more about occupied home staging or hiring a professional stager for your home, contact us today. We’d love to help you make your home stand out from the crowd and sell faster and for more money.