What’s the difference between vacant and occupied home staging?
You haven’t moved into your new home yet. You’re on the market and step out on Saturdays so your realtor can show your home to potential buyers. It’s been on the market for a little while and you’re wondering if you should have listened to your realtor’s initial feedback a few months ago: maybe take down that mural tapestry with your family on it. Maybe lose the plastic laundry basket. Perhaps an updated window dressing. Oh, and bowling trophies over the fireplace? Maybe pack those away for now in case your potential buyer absolutely hates bowling. You never know.
While there are ways around showing your home to potential buyers in the grand scheme of things, it’s important to know the difference between staging a home occupied or vacant. In this quick article, we’ll show you the difference and give you insight on the best way to stage your home in either scenario.
Is it better to STAGE a home occupied or vacant?
Staging a home while occupied can help a professional home stager with some starting points, so in that regard, it could be considered easier for the seller. Otherwise, the home stager would have to remove furniture, declutter, de-personalize, and begin to reimagine the space while keeping the owner’s belongings safe. This could prove to be a slight distraction to the overall “fast sell” that some sellers look for.
Staging homes that are vacant can give the professional home stager an opportunity to take a blank canvas and make it come to life. The opportunity to play with the latest trends in interior design, play up your home’s usable elements while downplaying the flaws create a unique challenge that only a well-versed home stager can appreciate. Many professional home stagers would say it is “easier” but no project is without obstacles.
A professional stager worth their salt will probably say staging a home while occupied has a set of obstacles all their own. This is probably because you have to rely on the participation of the homeowners or occupants of the house to maintain the staging integrity of the space for showings. It also means that the professional home stager works with the homeowners or sellers with constructive feedback on why their bean bag chair simply does not work in that corner. Maybe the corner in their new house, perhaps.
There’s always a balance between home staging based on trends and proven design strategies and the desires of homeowners.
Across the board, sellers will agree on one thing: you can’t sell an empty house. Well, you can, but it’s a lot harder. Whether your home is vacant or occupied when you list it, it should be staged by a professional who will make the very best of the space they have to work with. At The Stagency, we are determined to showcase a home that is designed to engage buyers and spark interest - regardless of the occupancy level.
When to consider occupied home staging
There are some situations that cannot be avoided. It’s often a luxury to be able to live elsewhere, all settled in, comfortably waiting for your previous home on the market to sell. This is not always the case and is why occupied home staging exists. Here is why you’d have to consider occupied home staging:
You have to live in the home until it sells so that you can afford to move. This is a very real and honest (and common!) situation. But the place has to sell, and that’s where an expert home stager comes in.
The space needs updates and renovations. This adds more to the cost of staging which means you probably have to be more budget minded which means you have to stay at the home until it sells. Note: upgrades and minor renovation jobs during a home staging process is very common and perfectly understandable if you have to keep items that don’t work in storage while the pieces that do work are highlighted by the stager.
You need to sell the home quickly and that means not letting it sit on the market for too long. This means, the moment you have agreed to sell, you hire a professional home stager who can declutter and work around your family occupying the property. Begin showing the home as soon as possible with winning design strategy. Yes, this can be done right there with you in the home. Sell faster, sell better.
Summary
The difference between home staging an occupied property or a vacant property is pretty clear. In one scenario, the stager works with a totally clean slate. In another, the stager works with you and your furnishings if necessary. In both, a professional home stager is designing with a proven track record of designing for the sell and highest price. Designing and staging a home with purpose is exactly where you need to be.
Contact us now for more details on how we can help you.