Military PCS Home Staging Tips

if you’re a military family
and you’re gonna be Pcsing soon
you might be wondering
how to get your house sold quickly
well today
I’m sharing simple PCS
home staging tips that you can use
even if you’re on a tight deadline
hey there everybody
welcome back my name is Kasha
and I’m an occupied home staging specialist
meaning that I help home sellers
just like you stage your house
using things you actually already have in your home
so we’re not staging vacant homes
we’re actually using the things you have in your house
so especially the military families
that are very near and dear to my heart
because that is where I came from
that’s my background
I understand if you’re on a tight deadline
because sometimes you may get orders
and you may have to move in 30 days
sometimes you’re very lucky
you get 60 days but thirty days is about the norm
and you military spouses I’m listening to you too
because I know this is gonna fall on your shoulders
to get your house ready to sell
because your military spouse is gonna be busy
you know doing things at work
trying to get thick things closed out
do things on base whatever it may be
and it falls onto the spouse
normally the females sometimes the males too
um to get it ready
and I’ve had to do this
as an active duty military spouse
meaning my husband and I were both active
duty and married to each other
and I’ve had to basically
take care of getting the house ready to sell
he did other things too
but I was the most active participant in that process
so I’ve also done it as a government civilian spouse
where my husband is now a government civilian
and I am no longer active duty
but I do have to get the house ready to sell as well
and I’ve done this internationally
um I’ve done this within among the states
so I totally know where you’re coming from
as a military spouse so this episode is for you
because there are some things that we can talk about
in this episode
to help you get some quick staging tips
some mistakes that I’ve seen
um some high impact staging fixes that you can do
so let’s get through this video
so that you can get started
so let’s focus on the critical rooms in the house
now I’m talking about the living room
the kitchen the primary bedroom
the those are the main
and then the dining room eating kitchen area
and then finally the curb appeal
because those are really important
when it comes time to sell your house
if I need you to focus on one thing
it’s those one thing four things
plus the curb appeal
those are the things you need to focus on
okay notice how I didn’t say mention kids bedrooms
yeah and you’re probably cringing going yeah
but my teenager won’t clean up their room
I know I got you
we’ll get there I’ll
I’ll help you
but those four rooms are really the eye sores
that need to look its best
it needs to look fantastic
when you’re showing your house okay
so you need to really focus on those areas
now I do have a free guide called The
How to Start Staging your house
now you can totally download it for free
gets you started on what things to look at
what home improvements you could work on
um but in this video
I’m gonna touch on a couple other things okay
let’s start off with the quick decluttering
Pcs style now
if you have 30 days
you are running around with other things on your mind
too right
you’re closing the school school um
records and stuff like that for your kids
if you have them um
maybe if you have a pet you’re trying to get
you know other things taken care of
last minute doctor’s appointments before you move
um maybe you’re servicing your cars
there’s
so many other things you could possibly be doing
but
I really wanna help you focus on the staging portion
of getting your house ready to sell
because that’s a major investment that you have
that you wanna show off its best
and if you show it off in a really nice way
buyers will come to your house
okay if it’s cluttered
if it has too many things out
if there’s toys everywhere
if things are just dirty buyers
they’ll look at it
but they’re gonna low ball you with an offer
and you are just gonna get
just mad’cause I’ve done that too
I’m like
and not necessarily that my house was not clean
it was just the lowball offers that make you mad
you know what I mean I know you’ve probably been there
you probably have had it maybe at least once
if you haven’t
oh it makes your skin boil just oh
you know what I mean yeah
so the quick decluttering
this is gonna be military style
pick up something does this stay or does it go
okay that’s what we’re
we’re ripping off the Band aid here
okay
so we’re gonna remove anything that is highly personal
meaning any military gear
if they’re C bags
a bags hanging around stuff and places
and boots and things like that
all that stuff needs to be put away
put it in the garage put it in the closet
put it some don’t let it be hanging out in the hallway
in the bedroom you know what I mean
okay um
those types of things
especially if you have weapons in the house
hmm yeah
those should not be lying around either
okay if you have a safe
please put it in the safe
um a lot of military people tend to have weapons
and things like that and
I know most of us are pretty good
about keeping them locked up
but it’s just a quick reminder
so military gear
any awards like if you have an I love me wall
as I call it you know what I mean
if you’re military right
for those of you who don’t know
or just kind of watching just for curiosity sake
the I love me wall is looks
and I’ll show you a picture
it has like awards
things that you’ve gotten over
the past locations you were stationed at
maybe it has your name on it
maybe it has you know
some funny sayings awards
anything military related
take all those down
that whole I love me wall needs to come down
it really does
and I’ll show you a before and after picture of what
we had an I love me wall in one of our houses um
after we got out both of us
my husband and I both got out at the same time
and then he became a government civilian
I did not I became a home stager
um and so that wall
when we were trying to sell that house
had to come down
and we transformed it into a reading nook
basically that was just a
an easy change cause we had the stuff
we just kind of move things around
that was actually an IKEA bookcase
we just laid it down sideways
turned it into a bench
and put a really cute little cushion on there
with some pillows and some books
and it’s like oh wow
I can have a little reading nook here instead
instead of leaving it like a blank wall
if you don’t have something like that
it could be something as simple as
just putting a large piece of artwork
canvas artwork nothing major
something neutral like a landscape
an abstract a clock
a mirror something like that
is perfectly fine to replace that wall
that may be filled with stuff
that is now gonna be empty
okay so
that’s just some ideas for military awards
and things like that
other things that are personal are family photos
all of those need to come down
you may have a gallery of all your lovely children
you know maybe you and the military
with your military pictures everywhere
and camo gear and everything like that
yeah all that stuff needs to come down
uh huh yeah
so just start walking around the rooms
go room by room and go okay
that’s military that’s military
that’s military take all the military stuff down
okay um
those are the easiest things that you can do
just quickly pull off the walls
pull off a shelf wherever it may be
okay family photos
all those need to go whether it’s military or not
all family photos need to go
you’re depersonalizing the house
and I know it’s probably gonna feel awkward
and go oh but
but yeah
those need to come down okay
so we’re doing this like shotgun style here okay
this is kind of a quick thing
all right
the next thing you’re gonna do
is you’re gonna make piles okay
probably four piles more than likely
so you’re gonna have a pile to sell stuff’cause
maybe you don’t need it at your next location
maybe you’ve outgrown it
maybe the kids have outgrown it
maybe you don’t want it anymore right
you’re gonna have a donate pile
same thing whether you sell it or donate
it doesn’t matter
sometimes it’s faster just to donate it
but if you need the money
then sell it okay
if you have the time to do Facebook
you know marketplace or someplace else
sell it okay
um things you’re gonna
another pile is to throw out okay
that’s pile number three
and then pile number four is store or
or pack away things
that you wanna take with you to your next location
okay but you don’t want it out
for the staging purposes of it okay
so you’re you want it
you want to keep it
but we can’t use it cause it’s too personal to whatever
and it’s gonna be stored elsewhere okay
like the garage or something like that
okay so we’re gonna make four piles
we’re gonna remove anything that’s highly personal
okay so that’s the quick decluttering PCs style
alright okay let’s move on
okay some fast
high impact staging fixes that you can work on and do
right now take a look around
now we’re focusing on the main rooms
like the living room the kitchen
the primary bedroom right
the eating kitchen area for
so for the primary bedroom
we’re gonna look at our bedding okay
is it neutral is it too busy
is there too much on there
um you wanna make it more neutral bedding
uh white is better versus cream
cream can kind of look kind of dingy in pictures
um so maybe if you have a
a blanket a quilt would be perfectly fine
um and throw pillows okay
you don’t want to have too many
you don’t want it for you to take like
five minutes just to arrange the pillows
three to five pillows is the max that I would put
like on a queen size bed even a king size bed
five pillows at the most
so the two standard size or king size pillows
and then three nice throw pillows
that’s it okay
a nice quilt keep it neutral
nothing not a quilt like
so I say coverlet okay
I mean like this is
it’s a white coverlet or something like that
some kind of some kind of thin
it’s perfectly fine or if you have a comforter
that’s perfectly fine
but it needs to be a neutral colored
not a quilt like the country quilt type thing
okay
alright
another quick impact that you can make to your walls
is artwork OK
so you say you do have that I love me wall
or you did have all those family photos
well just great
grab some canvas artwork you know
you can go to the big box stores
they’re normally about 30 bucks or so
if you don’t have any you can use a mirror
you can use um
wood scroll work metal work
or whatever um
those are kinds of things that you can use
to replace that maybe that blank area
and that way you will have something in the living room
have something in the bedroom
if you have a dining room
that’s a great place to have like
a canvas like a um
a landscape picture or a mirror
okay something simple
nothing crazy nothing personal
okay
and then another staging thing that you can work on is
um new towels in the bathroom
yeah and they should be again
neutral colored ones not crazy patterned ones
not dark ones white works best
and think about it this way
you’re probably
your towels are probably kind of older anyway
they probably need to be refreshed right
so now’s the time to put away those old ones
if you’re gonna take them with you great
if not donate
recycle whatever
um and then use those for staging
and then you take them with you to your next house
and then you have new brand new fresh uh
towels to go in your bathroom
okay so
those are some quick things that you can work on that
make a really big impact is the bedding
the towels and the artwork
those are simple things that you can work on
to get your house ready to sell
okay so
you’ve heard me talk about my
how to start staging your house now
free guide that you can download right now
I will leave the link in the show notes
but like I said
it gives you some timelines to think about
talk about home improvements that you can work on
and 10 home staging tips that you can use right now
to get your house ready to sell
so if that’s something you’re interested in
you can download it for free
okay let’s move on to getting the house show ready
while you’re getting ready to move yourself
because I’ve had instances
and I’ve had couples
where I’ve helped them get their house ready
where they couldn’t get and use their furniture
they actually had to move it out in like
two weeks they were
they were out of here so we got rental furniture
which can be costly
and I’ll leave the link in the show notes
on rental furniture
and what can you can expect cost wise for that
that’s why as an occupied home staging specialist
I prefer using what homeowners already have
we’ll just edit the room
and decide what stays and what goes
so we’ll kind of move things around
kind of maybe instead of at an angle
we move it you know in a certain direction
maybe we take some furniture out
those are the types of things
when I do a one on one home staging consultation
that’s what we discuss we kind of go through each room
not kind of we actually do
where we go through each room and decide okay
this stays this goes
move this over here
and that will help you understand what you need to do
to get your house ready to sell
now let’s move on to another
more tricks for you on getting it show ready
so if you’re already in the packing mode
and you need to get things moved and packed up
already set up a staging area
so that you have this one spot that
you know if you’re packing stuff up
it goes there okay
so we had that situation when we were moving to Germany
our second time around so
I had one wall that was reserved for
things we wanna take with us to Germany
and one wall of things that were going into storage
they were not going with us to Germany
because we knew we wouldn’t have the space for it
and so we knew
that there were certain things that had to stay behind
you may be in a Pcs
where everything has to come with you
that’s why I made you do those
four piles of what’s donating
what’s being sold what’s gonna be thrown out
and what may you may wanna keep
okay so those are the four right
so staging area in the garage for the boxes that
of things that you already know you need to pack up
like those photos those I love me walls right
put those
pack those up in boxes and put them in the garage okay
another tip that you can use is
avoid making the rooms look too empty
um meaning just a bed
or just a desk or something like that okay
you really want to show off the room
of what it’s supposed to look like right
what is it supposed to be used for
it has to have a function of some sort
if it’s a bedroom there should be a bed in there okay
with a nightstand right
and bedding not just a chair
okay cause I’ve seen that too
like that doesn’t give buyers a sense of scale
they can’t tell what the room is supposed to be used as
is it supposed to be an office
is it supposed to be a nursery
is it what is it right
you don’t want them guessing okay
you need to show them how the room can be used
okay so you don’t want empty rooms in your house either
that actually takes longer to sell
because again there’s no sense of scale
there’s nothing in the room to show the buyers
what can I use this room as
what will fit in here cause you may think
oh well
the room will be empty
people will can use their imagination
actually not
only 10% of people can actually visualize those space
with what’s in there right
and there are 10% that’s really teeny tiny right
the rest of them have to be shown
what it needs to look like
what can fit in here can I fit a queen size bed in here
is it only a twin you know
empty rooms actually look smaller
than when you actually put things in them
I know you’re probably thinking what
yeah no
it does seriously
another tip for you is that
that make sure the house is staged for pictures
and ready to go now
I would suggest that as soon as you know when
you’re gonna have you know
the time to get all this stuff ready
maybe it takes you three weeks
four weeks to get it ready
maybe you only have two weeks right
if you know
there’s a deadline of a photographer showing up
make sure you work towards that deadline
and like I talked about those four critical rooms
those quick decluttering things
the cleaning that needs to be done
all that kind of stuff if you know you have a deadline
work towards that deadline okay
it’ll help you believe me
I promise you okay
but make sure that it’s
the rooms are staged for pictures
and not just empty rooms okay
and once you do have those pictures done
it is okay to have your boxes packed up
now I’m not saying the boxes should be in the rooms
when the pictures are taken
okay so say like your bedroom
you’re gonna have a couple boxes
you’re taking out the military gear right
put those in the garage don’t leave them in the bedroom
alright
there should not be any boxes lined up in any bedroom
when it’s being staged
and when there are pictures being taken okay
that’s the worst thing you can do to show off your home
those pictures are gonna be online
and that’s what buyers get their
your impression of your house
if there’s boxes everywhere okay
you don’t want that it is okay though
once the pictures are done
to start packing things up
you know having the boxes around
you may have to move a couple of the boxes out
for showings I would recommend that
but I know sometimes you can’t
and sometimes you may find that there
the movers are showing up
during a time frame that you’re like
look I
I need to move that’s okay
I promise you we’ve done that
where we’ve had to yes
we took the pictures early
so that we could have the movers come out
and start packing us out okay
sometimes the movers can take a couple of days two
three days depending on the size of your home
and how much stuff you have right
or even if you have to split it up
into different shipments like
maybe there’s one that’s pro gear
maybe there’s one that’s you know
that’s going to the house first before you show up
because you have another house on the other end
and then this is the leftover stuff
that you’re staying and sleeping on
before that gets shipped out
I know sometimes yes
we can make this so difficult on ourselves
I swear we can but we’re trying not to
when it comes to staging your house okay
so definitely set aside be in constant communications
with your real estate agent
and let them know hey look
the movers are coming on these dates
please don’t have any showings during that time
you don’t need that as a homeowner
to have people come through your house
while the movers are there
okay so take that into consideration too
and think about breathe
it’s okay people know you’re moving okay
that’s why the pictures need to look their best
with the house staged where everything is
and then once pictures are taken
then you can start packing things up
and moving things out that you need
okay okay
let me go through some of the mistakes
that military families make
when they’re staging their house
okay so number one is that it’s
there’s too much furniture
that it’s dark in there I’ve seen
I know a lot of people
that love the dark feeling in the house
put drawing the curtains making it feel like a cave
and I’m like oh
my gosh no
open the windows open the curtains
make sure there’s plenty of light coming in
you want natural light in there
I know you’re you may be thinking
but I like the whole vampire look like
you know oh
but not when it comes to staging
and let me just tell you the staging is only temporary
it is for a short amount of time
hopefully not too long
because I know the markets can fluctuate
depending on where you live
um even where
we had our houses up for rent um
in North Carolina um
and in December we had to put up for rent again
and we had a couple of showings
like three or four and one couple applied and said yeah
we’d love to rent the house
and that was in December and it took two weeks
so you never know it can be as quick as that
I’ve had helped many other couples too
as well military families as well
sometimes they take two months in the dead of winter
sometimes it takes you know
a month it
it could surprise you you never know
so that’s why it’s very important
to make sure those pictures look their best
and then you can start moving things out okay
I know I know
deep breath deep breath
Pcs is very stressful it is a very stressful situation
whether it’s for you for the kids
the whole family in general
maybe your family you’re moving closer to your family
maybe moving away from your family
yeah yeah
I know there’s a lot to consider
another mistake that military families make
is that their rooms are over packed with things
like toys in the bedroom or every bedroom has a desk
a bed a dresser
a chest of drawers toys
there’s just too many things there
too many pieces of furniture
too many things right
so that’s where we’re part of the decluttering process
you’re gonna have to start making it look like those
yes I’m gonna say like the magazine cover
you know the bed in the bedroom and nothing else really
of the nightstands the dressers
and I do have a course on what should be at the maximum
in each room I do have a course
called the Home Staging Basics Course
where it’s pre recorded
videos you can watch at your own speed
and you can take your time or binge watch them
as many as all 13 of them if you need to
um just to help you decide what stays and what goes
okay
another um
mistake that I’ve seen is the poor curb appeal
where you haven’t taken the time to cut the grass
or trim those bushes
or pull out the dead bushes or something like that
right the flower beds aren’t looking the greatest
curb appeal is a big deal
because buyers decide
within the first eight to 10 seconds
what they think about the house
do they like the outside of it
do they not and they think
well if the grass is like
three feet tall or there’s
you know toys all over the place
if you can’t take care of the outside
what’s gonna make them think
that you take care of the inside
because then they’re thinking
oh well
there’s chachin chachin
chachin money that’s gonna
they’re gonna have to put towards fixing things
or maintaining things because you didn’t okay
you don’t want that perception
you want everything clean
neat looking that’s why decluttering
is such an important part of home staging
okay
okay another mistake that military families make
are seeing burnt out light bulbs
yes and you’re probably thinking what really
yes that does make a difference
especially when you look at the pictures
because in the bathrooms especially
whether you have the Hollywood lights
whether you have the two or three
you know sets over the mirrors
um we had one where it was literally
I think
a week before the picture was supposed to be taken
it was in the kitchen above the stove
and it was a recessed light
you know I’m thinking here
oh my god
why is that flickering all of a sudden
yeah all the lights
light bulbs need to be in good working order
even outside too
check out those garage door lights
especially if you have a garage
you know you have them on the side posts or something
like that
make sure all those lights are working as well
because the photographer is gonna be in there
to use all the lights
turn on all the lights and take photos
okay and when they take photos of your room
and there’s one light bulb out in this bathroom
and another one in the kitchen
and another one in the living room
okay again
that’s maintenance simple
easy things to do replace them
get them done get them taken care of
so that you don’t have to worry about it
cause when the showings come in
you know the real estate agents are gonna come in
and flip on all the lights too
so make sure all the light bulbs are in good
working order when you’re selling your house
okay so
I’ve covered a lot of things in a short amount of time
like I mentioned I do have a home staging basics course
that is pre recorded you can watch at your own pace
where I cover all the rooms in the house
plus extra stuff like accessories colors
room layouts decluttering
how to declutter what to declutter
I’ve covered all of that in this course
so that way you can get started right now
because you’re not wasting time
especially as a military family
you don’t have time to waste
okay or
you can just contact me
for a home staging consultation online
okay so I hope this is giving you some food for thought
giving you some quick staging tips
what to look for what to work on
what to prioritize
when it comes time to move and stage your house
and especially as a military family
I wish you guys all the best of luck as a Pcs
cause I know I know how difficult that can be
if you like this video I would love to hear a comment
um or
if you know issues
that you ran into when you were Pcsing
leave that in the comments below
like subscribe to the channel
it’s totally free that way
it can reach other military families just like you
that are getting ready to sell their house
I hope you guys have a fantastic week
and we’ll talk to you later bye