5 Disadvantages of Home Staging and the Better Option (2024)

Table of Contents

• What Is Home Staging?
• 5 Disadvantages of Traditional Home Staging
• Virtual Staging – The Better Option to Home Staging

If you work in real estate, you’ve more than likely heard about home staging. In fact, it’s become somewhat of a buzzword in the industry. But is home staging really worth it?

A well-staged home can make an enormous difference in the price a property fetches, the speed at which it sells, and more. But home staging isn’t all sunshine and roses. In fact, there are some serious disadvantages to consider before jumping wholeheartedly onto the staging bandwagon.

In this post, we’ll explore whether traditional home staging is worth it, looking at the hidden disadvantages of home staging that every real estate professional needs to know.

We’ll also present a better and more affordable option to home staging.

What Is Home Staging?

71% of buyers are looking for a move-in-ready home and staging can help give that impression. Home staging is all about getting your home ready and making it appeal to as many buyers as possible.

It usually involves redecorating, decluttering, rearranging furniture, cleaning, and using other strategies to present your home in the best possible light.

The main objective is to make your home as attractive and appealing as possible to the largest number of potential buyers to help sell it fast and at a good price point.

Even though home staging is a necessary part of selling a property, it has some hidden costs and problems that every real estate professional should be aware of.

5 Disadvantages of Traditional Home Staging

With that said, let’s take a look at 5 disadvantages of traditional home staging and the better, faster, and more affordable option.

1. Home Staging Can Be Expensive

First and foremost, it’s important to recognize that staging a home isn’t cheap. Depending on the level of staging needed, the costs could quickly mount up.

For instance, you may need to rent furniture and decorative items, hire a professional stager, and possibly undertake minor upgrades like painting or flooring.

And if your home doesn’t sell and stays long on the market, the cost of renting furniture will quickly add up.

So when you take into account the upfront costs of traditional home staging, it can quickly eat into your profit margins.

2. Staging Can Be Difficult to Maintain

Although staged homes look fantastic, it can be challenging to keep them looking that way, particularly if they’re still occupied.

For example, you may have set up a beautiful vignette in the master bedroom, but if the homeowners have young children or pets, it’s unlikely to stay picture-perfect for long.

Buyers who come to view the home may be disappointed if they see a “messy” staged home, which could hurt your chances of making a sale.

3. It Can Be Misleading

While staging can undoubtedly make a home look incredible, there’s a risk that it could mislead potential buyers.

For example, you might have set up a cozy reading nook in the corner of a room, but this could make the space appear larger than it is.

Or, you might have strategically placed lamps to create ambiance, but the lighting situation could be poor for daily life.

You may even be hiding a large hole in the wall behind that big sofa… You get my point!

If the buyer feels misled by the staged setup, it could result in a lost sale or legal disputes.

4. Staging Can Intimidate Some Buyers

As strange as it sounds, professional staging can make a house look so perfect that some buyers might feel like they can’t live up to the expectation.

A buyer can feel like the house won’t look good if they don’t fill it with the same kind of beautiful accessories and décor.

The potential buyer may feel like they are underequipped to live there, as the home they own and the furniture they use is incapable of delivering the same level of elegance.

Such feelings can influence the buying decision, causing many buyers to back off from making an offer.

5. Home Staging Is a Time-Consuming Process

Home staging is a delicate and time-consuming task that should only be entrusted to the experts.

All of this costs time, as well as money. Many real estate agents often find themselves spending hours or days staging the homes, leading us back to the question of whether home staging is worth it.

This can take valuable time away from the real estate agent’s other activities that are also necessary to sell more homes and grow their business.

But luckily, we have a better and more time-efficient option, which we’ll look at next.

Virtual Staging – The Better Option to Home Staging

Home staging can undoubtedly be an excellent way to elevate the value and appeal of a property.

However, as we’ve explored in this post, there are also some serious disadvantages to the process. The even better, faster, and more affordable option is virtual staging.

Virtual staging is an excellent marketing tool. It provides your listings with eye-catching images that will help buyers envision themselves living in the home.

With virtual staging, you can take an empty, cluttered, or outdated interior and show buyers how fantastic it could look after decorating or renovating.

Virtual Staging Is Cost-Effective

It’s also more cost-effective!

On average, traditional home staging costs anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000, and often, even more. The good news is that virtual staging is more affordable than traditional staging and can reduce costs by up to 97%.

In contrast to home staging, virtual staging generally costs around $20 to $30 per image.

Virtual Staging Is Faster

Virtual staging is also way faster!

While traditional staging requires time and effort, the turnaround time for virtual staging is just 24-48 hours — thus, you can market and sell your listing sooner.

As you can see, you can save a lot of time, effort, and expenses by virtually staging your home.

With PhotoUp’s virtual staging service, you can even stage a room using 11 different design styles to cater to a broader market.

All you need to do is sign up for a free PhotoUp account, upload photos of your empty or outdated rooms, and we will return your staged images in less than 48 hours.

PhotoUp Virtual Staging Demo

For more details, take a look at this virtual staging demo to see exactly how easy it is to get started:

It’s really as simple as that!

So, sign up for a free PhotoUp account today, and let our professional CAD designers create stunning real estate images to help your listing stand out from the competition and sell for max value!

We hope this blog post helped answer the question of whether home staging is worth it and introduced the better option to help you save time and money by virtually staging your real estate photos.

Before you go, you may also want to check out the following resources:

• 10 Benefits of Virtual Staging for Real Estate Agents
• How to Virtually Stage a Room in Less Than 5 Minutes
• What Is Virtual Staging in Real Estate? (Examples Included)