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What is home staging?

Home staging is getting a house ready to sell by clearing clutter and bringing in or rearranging furniture and decor so buyers can picture living there. Virtual staging does the same thing in the listing photos with editing software or AI.

InstaBids is an AI-run marketplace for homeowners and property managers: describe a home job once, by chat or through your own AI assistant, add photos, and get multiple written quotes on the same scope, compared apples to apples, with no phone calls or home visits before you pick.

By InstaBids editorial team with AI research agents. Updated

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What does home staging include?

Staging can be as small as clearing clutter and personal items or as large as replacing the owner’s furniture for the sale. A California Assembly committee analysis and a California Senate committee analysis describe that range, and in the National Association of Realtors 2025 survey, agents most often told sellers to declutter (91%), clean (88%) and improve curb appeal (77%): “If the sellers are still living in the property, a home staging service can suggest ways for the owner to declutter and depersonalize the space in preparation for photos and open houses or even swap out some of the owner’s belongings with more current décor and furniture.” Source: California State Assembly, Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection, read 2026-10-29. “This can involve ways to depersonalize a space or limit clutter to completely removing an owner’s personal property and staging the home with different furniture and decorations.” Source: California State Senate, Judiciary Committee, read 2026-10-29. “The most common home improvement recommendations from real estate agents for home sellers were decluttering the home (91%), cleaning the entire home (88%) and improving curb appeal (77%).” Source: National Association of Realtors, read 2026-10-29.

How do California legislative analyses describe home staging?

Home staging means preparing a home for sale by temporarily furnishing, decorating or rearranging it so buyers can see what the space could be. Two California legislative committee analyses of a 2025 listing-photo bill describe the practice in these words: “Real estate salespeople and property owners have been staging sale properties for decades.” Source: California State Assembly, Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection, read 2026-10-29. “Furniture and décor are temporarily moved into an empty property and arranged in visually pleasing ways to give buyers an idea of the home’s potential.” Source: California State Assembly, Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection, read 2026-10-29. “Staging a property when it is for sale has been a common practice for real estate salespeople.” Source: California State Senate, Judiciary Committee, read 2026-10-29.

Does home staging help sell a house?

With some buyers, according to the agents surveyed. In the National Association of Realtors 2025 Profile of Home Staging, a February 2025 survey with 1,266 usable responses, 83% of buyers’ agents said staging made a home easier to picture as a future home, while 60% said the effect showed with some buyers but not always: “A majority (83%) of home buyers' real estate agents said staging a home made it easier for a buyer to envision the property as their future home.” Source: National Association of Realtors, read 2026-10-29. “Sixty percent of home buyers' real estate agents cited that home staging had an effect on some home buyers but not always.” Source: National Association of Realtors, read 2026-10-29. “Meanwhile, 26% of agents said home staging had an effect on most buyers' view of the home, and only 12% indicated that home staging had no effect on home buyers' views.” Source: National Association of Realtors, read 2026-10-29.

What are the most important rooms to stage when selling a house?

The living room comes first on both lists in the National Association of Realtors 2025 survey of agents, followed by the primary bedroom, while a guest bedroom ranks lowest at 7% with buyers’ agents: “For home buyers, staging the living room was considered the most important (37%), followed closely by the primary bedroom (34%) and the kitchen (23%).” Source: National Association of Realtors, read 2026-10-29. “In contrast, staging the guest bedroom (7%) was the least important.” Source: National Association of Realtors, read 2026-10-29. “The most commonly staged rooms by home sellers' real estate agents were the living room (91%), primary bedroom (83%) and dining room (69%).” Source: National Association of Realtors, read 2026-10-29. “In addition, 68% of home sellers' agents staged the kitchen.” Source: National Association of Realtors, read 2026-10-29.

Virtual home staging

Virtual home staging adds, changes or removes furniture and other elements in listing photos with photo editing software or AI, instead of moving real furniture into the house. California legislative committee analyses from 2025 describe the practice and where it can mislead buyers: “The staging of home listings has long been a part of the real estate industry, but the increasing popularity and accessibility of photo editing software has given rise to the digital insertion of elements into images of homes, in a practice known as ‘digital’ or ‘virtual’ staging.” Source: California State Senate, Judiciary Committee, read 2026-10-29. “Digital staging can insert or change elements of a real property including furniture, décor, landscaping, wall color, and bathroom or kitchen elements to highlight the home’s possibilities.” Source: California State Assembly, Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection, read 2026-10-29. “It can also remove elements from images including out-of-date furniture and décor, as well as personal belongings.” Source: California State Assembly, Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection, read 2026-10-29. “Virtual staging can become misleading when it is used to substantially alter the condition of the property, including by improving unappealing views from windows that cannot be changed, removing unsightly features, repairing damage, and upgrading fixtures.” Source: California State Assembly, Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection, read 2026-10-29.

Is virtual staging legal?

In California the answer turns on disclosure: since January 1, 2026, Business and Professions Code section 10140.8 requires a real estate agent who uses a digitally altered listing image to say so and link to the original photo. Rules in other states may differ; this answer quotes only California’s statute and its Department of Real Estate: In California, section 10140.8(a)(1) reads: “A real estate broker or salesperson, or person acting on their behalf, who includes a digitally altered image in an advertisement or other promotional material for the sale of real property shall include in the advertisement or promotional material a statement disclosing that the image has been altered and a link to a publicly accessible internet website, URL, or QR code that includes, and clearly identifies, the original, unaltered image.” Source: California Department of Real Estate, read 2026-10-29. Section 10140.8(b)(2) adds: ““Digitally altered image” does not include an image where only lighting, sharpening, white balance, color correction, angle, straightening, cropping, exposure, or other common photo editing adjustments are made that do not change the representation of the real property.” Source: California Department of Real Estate, read 2026-10-29. “As of January 1, 2026, licensees must also comply with Bus. & Prof. Code section 10140.8 when using digitally altered images in real estate advertising.” Source: California Department of Real Estate, read 2026-10-29.

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