My last comment will be this.
Staging is allowable as long as it makes no changes to the home (the home is as-was after the open house and removal of the staging.)
Therefore, if you paid to remove your belongings before the open house and return them to the house after the open house, that would be staging. However, if you remove the belongings to a storage facility, and they are then moved from the storage facility to your new home, that is not staging, because the home is not as-was.
In my view, you are improperly converting a non-allowable cost for moving your belongings into an allowable cost.
