Occupied Home Staging: an Interview with Michelle Finnamore
Cindy: How has your market changed this year?
Michelle: It’s changed because our market’s gone up 25% in value in one year. Actually in one year and eight months. So my business has changed because people are making so much money that they don’t want to stage anymore. It’s really changed that way. My business is down this year on the rental side because of that. Although I’m doing just as many consultations.
Cindy: What are you seeing as some of the upcoming trends for the rest of the year?
Michelle: For homeowners, they’re losing out by not staging because, yes, you’re making, a greater percentage on your property, however, you could make even more if you marketed it. So what we explain to them is that the big mall in our area, they still pay someone every day to coordinate those windows in the front of their stores because they’re marketing their products inside. And that’s exactly what home staging is. We’re actually marketing your home to be seen online. And by targeting your ideal buyers, we get more feed into your property and get you a better price still.
Cindy: What are some of the advantages to living in their home while you’re selling and what are some of the disadvantages and common challenges?
Michelle: The first thing we always ask is, will they be staying in the home and living there during the first weekend when they do open houses. As soon as it hits the market, we suggest if they have another place to stay, please stay there. It just makes it easier for them, especially if they have children and pets.
But if they are living there, we do give them the processes for living in a staged home. And one of those is with children, we do recommend they get a Rubbermaid bin. Put all the kids toys in it, let them write on it, but stickers on, put their name on it, it’s theirs. And then when you have a showing, they think it’s a game. You put the timer on the microwave, you say, “Okay, kids, we’ve got two minutes. We have to throw everything in the bins.” And they go ahead and they do it. And that way they think it’s a game and they’re young and they go along with it.
If they have pets, we do recommend they do have the pet stay at someone else’s house. Some people don’t and they still will have them there and they will take them out of the house before the showing happens. We explain all the reasons why you wouldn’t want to have a dog there with all the people coming through. They’re going to be barking and being alarmed and stressed. And you wouldn’t want to do that to your dog, who really is one of our children that never grows up. Some people simply won’t even come in the door if they hear a dog barking. So we do try to explain all these different advantages and disadvantages of living in a staged home and how we are going to plan ahead to deal with these things.
Cindy: You mentioned that you have some processes that you give it to the seller. What are some other things that you give them?
Michelle: We explain to them how to pack up. A lot of people really don’t know how. They get started in a room and then five seconds later they’re in another room and they’re distracted. We want you to stay in one room. Do the one whole room, you take everything.
I tell them to put three piles in every room. There’s the one that’s garbage, one that’s donate, and one you’re going to pack up and take to the new house. But there’s also the magical fourth pile. The fourth pile is every time you have to ask a question about something, don’t ask it. Just put it in the pile. And that’s the end. After you’ve made 4,000 decisions a day about what to pack up, you’ll look at that pile and go, “I don’t need anything in that pile.” And you’ll either dispose of it or pack it.
Cindy: What’s your usual process? Do you do a consultations? Do you do everything for them or do they do it themselves after the consult?
Michelle: Depends on their age. If they are of a physical ability, then we let them know everything that needs to be packed up. We use a roll of green painter’s tape and everything that has tape on it has to leave the room. We’ll let them know what to move to another room if we think it can be used there. That way they’re very, very clear about what’s being packed up. We also leave it in writing and a consultation booklet page by room, by room for them. So there’s no mistaking it. They know they can call us anytime to reconfirm. I might take, I don’t know, seven phone calls in a year out of 500 consults that they are confused on something. So we’re very, very clear upon our delivery and they understand what to do.
Cindy: What are some of the things that homeowners should be aware of when they’re living in the home while the house is on the market?
Michelle: They need to be aware of safety first and foremost. And by that, I mean all children’s pictures are put away, things like that. People have cameras on their phones. So we just explain to them that it’s just much easier. We explain it in a way that they understand that they really, really need to put their personal things away. And that includes anything with a Visa numbers, things like that on it. Some people have businesses in their house, so we recommend that they have boxes so that when people are coming through on the showings and they’re still working on something, they can just stick it in that box, put in their car and they’re gone. And that’s the process for living in a staged home and being acutely aware that you have strangers coming through your home.
Cindy: What do you generally recommend these sellers do when they’re going to live in the home while they’re selling?
Michelle: First of all, for personal items in the bathroom, we want you to go to the local dollar store and buy a plastic basket that has holes in it with a handle, like a shower caddy. And each person that’s old enough gets one, and they put their shampoo, conditioner, razor in it, soap, whatever they’re using, and it goes on and to counter. When they get a shower in the morning, they take it with them in the shower. When they’re done, they put it back underneath the counter. If they’re forgetting, then at least mommy only has to pick up three handles instead of 16 different bottles of shampoo. That’s a favorite tip that we share with people.
As far as clothes, we suggest going through your clothes quickly and deciding what to keep, what not to keep, pack up the rest. As far as the kitchen, we do ask them to take anything that looks like work off of the counter and only keep the lifestyle items. So that means I still need my toaster. I still need my knife block. So you have to take the things out of your kitchen cabinets that you’re not using all the time and put those there so that you have them at hand, but you don’t have them on the counter when you have showings.
Cindy: What else do you ask sellers to leave behind?
Michelle: If they have a picture frames, I always asked them to please take your family pictures out and just go to Google Images and print off like Eiffel Tower pictures and things like that and stick those in there. It’s free to do and then you’re not left with a nail hole
in the wall and everything still works.
Cindy: Can you tell me about your process on the actual staging day? What do you do as a home stager when you’re staging an occupied home?
Michelle: So I ask them to make sure all their personal things are put away and that includes the things in the shower and the bathrooms and their bedrooms. If they are left out, they will go into the nearest drawer. I arrive, I put my mat down, everything is brought in, it’s unpacked, and the bins go into the kitchen. We get all our decor accessories, the furniture people come right in. I’m directing furniture into each room. From there, we start hanging artwork and the bedding is pressed. We can typically do a 3000-square-foot house in about three hours. It’s a very streamlined process.
About Michelle
Michelle Finnamore Interiors is a registered, insured home staging company owned and operated by Michelle Finnamore, Certified Staging Professional and Maria Killam True Colour Expert™. Michelle’s work has been featured on HGTV, The Marilyn Denis Show, as well as on Top Million Dollar Listing which is seen both locally and internationally. Attention to detail with simple and effective staging solutions sets Michelle’s work at the top of her field.
