the tmm guide to home staging
List Higher and Sell Faster: The tmm Guide to Home Staging
People talk about moving a lot—shifting towards minimalism, packing, unpacking, the new-place setup. But an often overlooked part of the moving process is preparing your old home for showings. This is known as staging, and it’s a critical part of getting the most out of listing your home. Why? Because it can make your home sell faster and for a higher amount.
As of 2023, 58% of buyers’ agents said home staging affected their clients’ view of a home in most cases and 20% of buyers’ agents said it increased the dollar amount of offers made by one to five percent. This means that if you would normally receive an offer for $500,000, you could bump it up to $525,000 just by staging.
Despite these benefits, only 19% of homes sold were staged in 2021. Are you committed to staging your home but unsure of where to start? Here’s my guide to staging like a pro.
what is staging?
Staging is the process of setting up a home to make it look more attractive to potential home buyers. There are two types of staging:
Occupied home staging: This occurs when a homeowner still lives in their home. They may show it with some or all of their own belongings still inside and perhaps a few additional items they’ve brought in for showing purposes.
Empty home staging: This occurs when a homeowner has left their home and removed all of their belongings, installing furniture and decorative items that didn’t initially belong to them.
In both cases, the goal is to set your home up as neutrally and beautifully as possible so that anyone who walks into it can imagine living their best life there. A well-staged home can sell faster and garner top bids (even above the asking price), allowing you to move on more quickly and earn more money than you would have by showing your home as is.
what to remove
Whether you’re doing an occupied home staging or an empty home staging, there are certain things you should always remove before showing your home to the public:
Family photos
Clothes (except for a few clean, neutral articles of clothing in an entryway or closet)
Books that are controversial, emotionally charged, or tend to indicate your political or religious beliefs
Hobby items (except for something common and benign, like a piano or guitar)
Pet supplies
Art containing nudity, religious iconography, or cultural motifs
What do all of these items have in common? They’re all personal. And while they certainly have a place in the home you live in, they can alienate or trigger potential buyers who don’t know you, sometimes even on a subconscious level. As I mentioned above, the goal with home staging is always neutrality. When in doubt about what to store, err on the side of keeping as few personal items visible as possible.
where to store your additional belongings
A huge part of staging is decluttering the space and making it look more neutral and minimalist. If you don’t have access to your new home just yet, consider getting a storage unit near you or a pod in the area you’re relocating to so you have a place to store those extra items. But before you place your belongings in storage, take the following steps to ensure they’ll be safe:
Research the storage company and location
Review your homeowners’ insurance policy
Take out a new insurance policy if necessary
Document everything you put in your storage unit
what to bring in
After you’ve streamlined the space and removed your personal items from it, it’s time to add a few homey touches. Try installing:
Size-appropriate furniture (if the furniture you have is too big for the space or has already been moved to your new home)
Plants
Flowers
Unscented candles
Neutral bedding
Matching hangers
Basic white or tan towels
A shower curtain and bath mats
Clear containers full of Q-Tips and cotton balls
Woven bins for shelves
Area rugs
A nice kitchen appliance or two (like a KitchenAid mixer or a Cuisinart air fryer)
Oil decanted into a glass bottle
Salt and pepper shakers
A tea kettle
Food decanted into jars or other containers
You can rent these items, buy them secondhand or vintage, or shop frugally at Target or IKEA. If you purchase anything, you can always re-sell it later.
how to style your home like a staging pro
When you’re choosing the items to want to keep or add, make sure everything is neutral, including colors, textures, and styles. The last thing you want is to remind a potential buyer of a person or space they had a negative experience with or have them walk away thinking, “I loved that house, but it just wasn’t me.” Try to style the home in a way that leaves little room for specific associations and make it the kind of space anyone could enjoy. This goes for art as well as furniture and décor. Stick with landscapes or abstracts and avoid any wild color schemes.
That said, let the home be your guide as you select furniture and décor for staging purposes. For example, you’ll be likely to buy a different style couch or bed frame depending on whether the home is classic, mid-century modern, modern, or a craftsman. Whatever style you go with, keep it consistent when making design choices.
how tmm can help you successfully stage your home
There are plenty of house staging companies and experienced real estate brokers out there, but they aren’t all adept at helping you decide what stays and what goes during an occupied home stage. That’s where tmm comes in. A home organizer like me can help you prepare your home for sale, whether it’s in Portland, Oregon, or beyond.
In addition to our holistic organizing services, we offer in-person and virtual staging consultations where we dedicate two hours to helping you plan your occupied home stage and source smaller furniture and décor items.
Ready to get staging? Schedule a complimentary phone call with me today to learn more.
