4 Benefits of Occupied Home Staging

Selling your home while living in it is much easier than you may think, thanks to occupied home staging experts.

Many homeowners inaccurately think their house needs to be empty in order to stage it. Sadly, they miss out on an opportunity. Others might not even be familiar with the concept. Occupied home staging is simply preparing your home for the market and making it stand out — while you and your family still comfortably live in it.

The stager will make your home show-ready for potential buyers, whether in person or for online viewing. Here’s why it’s as amazing as it sounds.

1. Occupied Staging Is Convenient for You

Sellers’ lives are busy enough with day-to-day responsibilities, especially with the added stressor of getting a house on the market. Fortunately, occupied staging is all about convenience for the seller.

When an expert stages an occupied home, they use the homeowner’s furnishings. So you don’t need to move out, put furniture in storage or tear apart the living room.

As part of their creative process, the stager will take care of everything for you. They’ll rearrange some of your current décor items or furniture pieces to showcase the space. They might enhance a space with rental items from their inventory or purchase accessory items.

Whatever the stager does, they’ll keep you updated, but most importantly — you don’t have to lift a finger.

2. It’s an Investment — Not an Expense

Occupied home staging is an investment, not a frivolous expense. You’ll recoup your money when you sell the house. One Coldwell Banker study shows that staged homes typically sell for more than six percent above asking price.

One National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) survey found that the average staging investment is between one to three percent of the home’s asking price, which generates a home staging return on investment of 8-10 percent.

After all, staging an owner-occupied home allows buyers to connect with and understand the value in each room. This translates into better offers.

3. Style Stands Out for Marketing Purposes

Everyone knows how critical first impressions are, right? Experts know exactly how to create picture-perfect scenes from your occupied space. When you post photos on your online listing, your home will stand out from other houses on the market.

According to the same NAR survey, an impressive 90 percent of potential buyers search online as their first house-hunting step, so your pictures are definitely worth a thousand words!

4. Your Home Will Sell Faster

When buyers look at a properly-staged home, they see how easy it is to live there. Even though you designed your home to fit your personal taste and lifestyle, a professional stager knows how to make adjustments to make your home captivating to future buyers, while maintaining a comfortable home for you during the marketing process.

According to the same survey by Coldwell Banker, staged homes often spend half the time on the market as non-staged homes.

Looking to stand out from the competition? At Show House Home Staging, we'll help turn your "for sale" sign into "sold." Contact us today!