We’ve all seen the before and after shots from full-scale home remodels, or even the pictures showing how a home comes together over the course of months. However, keep in mind that these galleries are showing people who are designing their homes for themselves, not to sell.

However, staging an occupied home for sale can be very different. Instead of massive impacts, most homeowners find they only need small touches to effectively prepare their home for sale.

So, is staging an occupied home really worth it? Do small changes really add up to a big difference in sales activity? Well, in the case of these homeowners… occupied home staging contributed to them making $13,000 more on their home than expected.

Why Don’t People Remodel to Sell an Occupied Home?

What Small Touches are Suggested?

Were the Small Touches Worth It?

Show Us Pictures!

Why Don’t People Remodel to Sell an Occupied Home?

This is a great question! Most homeowners do not end up starting a major remodel when they are preparing to sell, for a few different reasons:

1. Unless you’re an investor “flipping” a property, you’re probably not sinking tens of thousands of dollars into preparing your home for sale. The return on investment on major remodels typically doesn’t exist. Some of the highest returns are for the smallest projects, such as garage door replacements. If you are interested in seeing the average return for remodeling projects across the country, check out this Cost vs. Value Report.
2. If you are looking to move anyway, you may not want to spend the time and energy on a major remodel. Kitchen and bathroom remodels can be especially painful, taking several weeks and costing thousands. Even if the work is done quickly, you will have to make selections throughout the process. Your time has value, too, don’t forget! Do you want to spend your time on a remodel you won’t enjoy?
3. You’re saving the pennies for your new home. Many homeowners pay for remodels by taking out some sort of home equity financing. However, if you’re moving anyway, there’s no value in using your home equity for a remodel; instead, you’ll want to get the most out of your home so that you can put your proceeds to the next home.

What Small Touches are Suggested?

Your home may vary, so let’s look at this example.

The homeowners of this beautiful home thought that they were already pretty close to be ready for sale. And they were right! But some of the touches their Stagerie stager suggested included:

• Removing extra décor from the walls to simplify the room.
• Removing the coffee table and rug so that the floors were highlighted.
• Moving the mirror into the hallway to make it feel better.

With those touches, and professional photography, the living room was successfully staged.

Were the Small Touches Worth It?

These homeowners, Amy and Bryce, spent a couple of weekends following the Stagerie advice. Their consultation allowed them to focus on the important items as opposed to the big ticket items they thought they had to complete.

They listed their house on a Friday. By Sunday night, they had had over 30 showings and 8 offers. One of those offers was $13,000 above their very aggressive asking price.

Were the homeowners happy? Here’s what they had to say:

Show Us Pictures!

And here is the full array of before and after pictures. Don’t forget… these pictures only show small touches. But after all, would you rather have an amazing reveal… or a huge financial payoff?