Home stagers in seasonal areas like Palm Springs California (where the population can drop by hundreds of thousands for parts of the year), often worry about how they’ll keep busy in the off season.

The truth is, there are home staging seasons no matter where you live.

Home staging demand follows the pattern of how real estate sells in your particular market in each season.

Where I live in North America, the biggest real estate seasons are the Spring Market and the Fall Market.

Spring Home Staging Season

Spring is the biggest because many families want to move during the summer before a new school year starts. That’s why for home stagers here, spring is an important time to hit the market, when the houses are being listed.

When I say “spring”, for stagers I’m talking about anywhere from late January/February – when it really gets going – right through to mid-June.

This season can be very, very busy. You’ll want to pace yourself and set boundaries about how many home staging projects you take on at once. I cover this in more detail in the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.

Then it can slow down for a few weeks near the end of June, picking up again towards the end of July.

That’s when home sellers start to panic and call home stagers for help. Realizing they better act quickly if they don’t want to move during the school year. That’s the time their agents are recommending a price reduction.

Home staging is a much better option for home sellers than cutting their asking price, because it costs them less.

Fall Home Staging Season

After that flurry of activity that usually happens in July, there’s another brief lull. Then business picks up right after Labor Day in September.

Then you have the home sellers who go back on the market for fall who failed to sell in the spring. They are highly likely to consider home staging (even if they were resistant before) because they’ve already proven to themselves that their home won’t sell “as is”.

The fall real estate market (September through mid November) is typically busy for home stagers in North America.

(Obviously if you’re in Australia the seasons are in reverse.)

If you’re in a highly seasonal (vacation) market like Palm Springs, consider providing additional services to even things out a bit.

In fact, all home stagers should be doing that no matter where we live.

When staging isn’t busy we can be busy with redesign projects and color consultations.

Some stagers keep busy during the slower holiday season by offering Christmas decorating services. Others get into decorating for parties and other events. With the growth in Halloween decorating, this is another opportunity to consider.

If you happen to be in a vacation market, one of the things you can look at is staging for the rental market.

Anyone looking to rent a place, especially if it’s a vacation destination, is looking online at sites like Airbnb. Travelers make their rental decision based on location, price and very importantly, what the photographs look like.

If you’re a home stager with some talent for taking photos of your projects, you could consider offering a combination styling/staging and photography package for rental properties. Charging extra for the photos of course!

Just because home staging tends to be a seasonal business, there doesn’t have to be a “slow” time when you’re stuck looking for business.

How do you deal with home staging seasons?

Home stagers, have you developed an interesting seasonal service offering you’d like to share? Please add to the discussion by leaving a comment below.