Will A Stager Use My Personal Items?

Home staging often brings up images of a stager totally stripping a house and reimagining it with different furniture and accessories. Many homeowners trying to sell might be intimidated by this idea—after all, many people are still living in their home until it’s sold. It also might be stressful to imagine paying for and moving all of your possessions and furniture to a storage unit while you wait to sell yours and move into a new house. Heidi Ross Design and Luxury Home Staging, serving the Memphis Metro Area, Germantown, Collierville, Arlington, and North Mississippi, takes this question seriously. 
 
Many people are surprised to learn about occupied home staging; something that Heidi Ross Design and Staging, specialize in offering to their clients. Stagers don’t actually need a totally empty house to work with—in fact, when staging an occupied home, stagers might use the owners own furnishings to achieve a look that flows within the current space and will appeal to many buyers. Here, we’ll break down this process, and let you know how Heidi Ross Design offers the valuable service of occupied home staging.
 
What exactly is occupied home staging?
 
Occupied home staging is exactly what it sounds like—a stager arranges your home to appeal to potential buyers while you’re still living in it. This doesn’t mean that once your home is immaculately clean, it’s ready to be listed, though. While a stager may use your items, staging a house usually involves some paring down and rearranging. Some of your items might be placed in storage, for example, or a stager might bring in a few accessories to supplement or replace yours.
 
This is because home staging isn’t about showing off your home as it currently is—it’s about helping potential buyers form an emotional connection to the house. When buyers can see themselves and their lives being lived in the space, it helps them form that emotional connection that can trigger a decision to make an offer to buy your home. 
 
Achieving that look might mean paring down very personal touches that can distract potential buyers, or selecting to use specific furnishings that show off a room’s best features. For example, when staging a small house, a stager might want to remove your very large and especially broken-in comfortable sofa, and trade it out for a smaller one that makes the space feel airy and open.
 
That’s because in home staging, living room spaces are often one of the first things buyers see, and making sure that they see a space’s potential is important. A large, out-of-scale piece of furniture might make a room seem smaller, especially if potential buyers have to pick their way around furniture and furnishings, just to walk through. All of these variables can change the perception of a space.
 
Your furniture and décor can also be used to its advantage. Shifting the placement of furniture and collections, or strategically paring down a love for 20 beloved collectable clocks around your home, to just a special 4 or 5, can help your home achieve the look that helps buyers fall in love with (and your clock collection too), even while you’re still living there. Many homes are sold this way—it just takes flexibility and patience as you keep your home in top-notch condition for showings.
 
If a stager uses my items, why shouldn’t I go for DIY staging instead?
 
When staging houses for real estate, a Heidi Ross Design professional stager puts more than design knowledge to work. A professional stager keeps an eye on market trends and what buyers want, while also doing their part working with the professional real estate broker that is listing and selling the home. The two will work together to make sure the real estate brokers planning and marketing strategy is effective, to get your home sold with the best offer.
 
A Heidi Ross Design stager knows what trends will appeal to your target audience, and has the experience to know what works—something that many homeowners don’t have experience with. Arranging a beautiful home exactly to your liking is one thing, but arranging a home so that many people can envision their own lives being lived in it, is another.  
 
Where can I find home staging near me?
 
At Heidi Ross Design, the team puts our training and experience to work for our clients. We help homeowners and work with their real estate brokers in the Memphis area—including Cordova, Germantown, Olive Branch, and Hernando—sell their luxury homes for their best terms. We’ve even been awarded the Best of Houzz 2022 Award—we take pride in making your experience a great one for everyone involved.
 
Heidi Ross—owner and lead stager at Heidi Ross Design—has a RESA-Pro certification from the Real Estate Staging Association, and is a Certified Professional Real Estate Stager. These certifications keep home staging and market knowledge up-to-date, which means that we have the knowledge and experience to make your sale the best it can be.
 
Even better? We offer a FREE quote, so you know what to expect when you work with us. We stick with you throughout the process, from quote to closing. Visit our website FAQ page or call Heidi Ross Design (901) 361-7419 today. Additional value added information can be found in our free online article library. 

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