Staging a home can be a difficult task and staging a home with tenants still in it is even more challenging. First, the seller must make sure they have permission from the tenant to do any decorative changes. If permission is granted, there are ways to decorate without altering the tenant’s current daily lives.
What Is Staging?
The process of staging is akin to putting on a show at your house. Decor and furniture are selected or modified to generate a sense of newness, vibrancy, and attractiveness for potential purchasers. If you’re photographing a home for a real estate listing, showing, or an open house, it’s critical to show it at its best and not make it appear like someone else’s. To put it another way, a well-staged home allows potential buyers to see themselves in the space. Let’s look at some ways to stage a home with tenants still in it, and how to pull it off.
Staging a Tenant-occupied Home
Staging a home with the current occupants still living in it is something that must be done carefully and with forethought to ensure it does not become an inconvenience for either party. Staging a home before a new tenant moves in prevents two things:
- It prevents the acquirer from hiring a home staging company to stage the home for them, and this could make it look fake and tacky.
- It ensures the current residents do not have to move out of their homes too soon, possibly inconveniencing them and making all parties involved unhappy.
However, properly staging a home that is occupied by tenants isn’t as simple as it sounds. It involves a lot of compromise and cooperation from the current tenants so everyone doesn’t end up upset, but if done right it should be a win-win solution that benefits all parties.
Large items of furniture such as couches, dining room sets, and coffee tables should be left in place. Chairs, desks, and other furniture should be removed, stored, and dated.
Remove old paint or wallpaper from the inhabited dwelling. If you’re a seller who is keeping some of their old furniture, paint the walls and either clean or refinish floors, so it seems like the buyer is moving into a new, furnished house rather than an empty one. Remove personal objects before staging an occupied house.
The entire process of staging a home before tenants move out involves a lot of compromise and coordination between these two parties. However, if done right, the tenants will be more satisfied with their home and the buyers will be more satisfied with the layout of their new home.
