A Handy Seller’s Guide To Staging a House While Living In It

Move out (physically & mentally)

Staging your home while still living there is an achievable feat, but you’ll have to make some lifestyle changes. Start by changing your mindset. Your time there is very temporary so begin going through some of the motions of moving out. Be willing to give up your settled existence. These steps will help:

• Declutter visible areas
• Empty drawers and cabinets
• Place any belongings not used on a daily basis in storage
• Deep clean areas as you go through the decluttering steps
• Keep any personal items like family portraits, holiday cards and your kids’ drawings from the fridge out of view
• Place your things in storage

Aside from tidying up the space, slowly embrace the fact that you’ll leave your home soon. This will help you gradually detach from it and see that it’s not yours anymore and it will be someone else’s in the next few weeks or months. While this may be an emotionally charged exercise, it will make you see the staging task as an actual project and give you the push you need to make the house homey and neat, looking like those in home improvement shows.

Clean it and then keep it clean

Now for the hard part. Spending a weekend decluttering, deep cleaning, and putting items in storage is a great start, but maintaining the perfect staged look is another matter. After all, you — and, more importantly, your family — are still living there. The good news is that with a little daily planning, keeping the charade going in time for the next showing shouldn’t be too heavy a lift.

• Identify the areas of your home that get dirty or messy on a daily basis and target these over the places that just need occasional sprucing.
• Get the rest of your family on board with a daily or weekly schedule to tackle frequently messy areas to divide and conquer.
• Clean as you go — if you’re cooking, start loading the dishes and wiping down the counter while the pasta boils. Don’t forget to deep clean the dishwasher.
• Or bypass having to clean the stovetop altogether and just cook in the oven or a pressure cooker (Instant Pot is your friend).
• Use placemats during mealtimes and have young children use bibs.

Don’t stage your home alone

Depending on your budget, getting professional help could help boost your home’s appeal beyond your own efforts.

When asked her opinion about hiring professional stagers, top real estate agent Maribel Sotuyo of Houston, Texas, says, “If there’s something I would personally invest in when selling my house, this would be that thing.” While staging might appear to be an unnecessary extra expense, it’s actually often included in packages offered by Realtors®.

You’ll reap the benefits of staging both when buyers visit in-person and when they view photos online. Prior to the photoshoot, modify the staging in any way that will produce optimum images. For example, move bulky furniture out of small spaces or rooms and away from doorways, Sotuyo advises. Make sure all counters and surfaces are tidy and that everything looks bright and fresh.

In some cases, staging can even distract buyers from noticing a home’s shortcomings.

How much faster can a staged home sell? In a recent HomeLight Top Agent Insights report, agents reported that staged homes sell 13% more than unstaged homes.

Moreover, a well-staged property can sell for as much as $52,000 more, HomeLight agents said, considering a median home price of $400,000. In contrast, skipping staging will likely make you lose five figures in the sale because you lose multiple offers, as Ashley Lay, a top agent in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, noted.

Find an Agent Who Can Help You Stage Your Home

An experienced agent will understand the value of staging, provide DIY tips, and refer you to the best staging experts in your market. HomeLight can connect you with a top-performing agent near you.

Find an Agent

Get out of the house

Prepare yourself and your family to be out of the house during showings and open houses. It’s an inconvenient part of the process, yet the upside is that the less time you spend there, the cleaner everything will remain!

Plan ahead for more activities outside of the home and try to have all items necessary for the excursions packed and ready ahead of time. The last thing you want to do is keep buyers waiting when they want to stop by for a showing; otherwise, they may move on to the next property.

Plan day trips, outdoor picnics for lunch, and make restaurant reservations for dinner. If your budget doesn’t agree with the latter, accept any dinner invites from relatives and friends. Eating outside the home is especially helpful for reducing kitchen and dining area odors and cleaning chores.

Here are some other tips for making your household scarce:

• Use the laundromat so your laundry room stays neat and tidy
• Take your dog to a self-serve wash like iClean rather than use the tub
• Cook those fish burgers outside on the grill rather than in the kitchen
• Skip the DIY haircuts for the kids and go to your local barber shop
• Arrange playdates for your kids at the neighbors or take trips to the local park if the weather is nice
• Go camping

Make a last-minute list

Showings could be scheduled with little notice and you don’t want to be scrambling to check all the nooks and crannies to make sure they’re clean. Instead, make a list of any areas that need a once-over before leaving the house.

By following these tips, you’ll be on your way to a smooth sale by showing buyers your home in its best light. Ensure you’ll get the highest return on your investment by using HomeLight’s Agent Match tool to get connected with a top-performing real estate agent in your market to guide you through the process.

Header Image Source: (Clay Banks / Unsplash)