Pros and Cons of Working with a Professional Home Stager
As real estate photographers, working directly with a professional home stager offers many benefits, but can also be quite difficult at times.
In this article I’ll discuss some pros and cons of working with a professional home stager and share some tips about how to best work with them.
Table of Contents
Pros of Working with a Professional Home Stager
1. Professional Staging Makes for Beautiful Photos
Professional stagers possess the expertise to transform ordinary spaces into visually appealing ones. They understand the latest interior design trends and can style homes to appeal to the widest audience possible.
This, as you can imagine, is great for your photography. It makes your job easier, will make your images look better, and will likely lead to extremely professional and portfolio worthy images for you.
Our article Simple Staging Tips for Real Estate Photographers will explain just how helpful even small staging practices can be to improving the quality of your images.
2. Highlighting Key Features
Stagers are skilled at accentuating the positive aspects of a property while downplaying its flaws. Sound familiar? It’s very similar to what we try to do with our photos.
Whether it’s emphasizing a spacious living area or showcasing natural light, a stager’s touch can make these features stand out even more in your photos.
Working with another professional that has the same goals for the presentation of the space as you can be extremely helpful.
3. Efficient Use of Spaces
Stagers know how to optimize space within a home, making rooms appear larger and more inviting. This is particularly beneficial in photography, as it allows you to capture images that show off the space perfectly.
4. Zero Staging Effort Needed From You
A professionally staged home is essentially ready for a photo shoot, saving you time and effort in preparing the space.
This can expedite your on location process and save you a ton of time that you otherwise would have spent staging.
5. Emotional Connection
Staging creates an emotional appeal, making it easier for potential buyers to imagine living in the home. Your photographs of a well-staged property can resonate more deeply with viewers, increasing their interest and engagement.
It’s a much better experience for the viewer to look at a well-staged room rather than a empty space or even a home that hasn’t been properly arranged prior to your shoot.
Cons of Working with a Professional Home Stager
1. Additional Costs
Professional staging comes with a price, which can be a significant investment for sellers or realtors. While the cost can be justified by much more beautiful images, it’s an upfront expense that not all clients are willing to bear.
It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to pay a professional stager out of the amount you’re making from the shoot itself. That leaves it to your clients to front the cost.
I’ve found it to be quite difficult to convince my clients to hire a professional stager, and frankly it’s hard to blame them. Unless they stand to make a large sum on their commission, staging costs aren’t always feasible.
2. Generic Styling
Some real estate photographers argue that staging can lead to a home looking too generic or devoid of personality.
This can sometimes result in photographs that, while attractive, lack a unique character that sets the property apart.
This is something that will change between each individual stager. Once you find a professional stager that has a style you enjoy, stick with them to avoid any issues.
3. Potential for Conflict
Collaborating with stagers, or any other professionals for that matter, requires coordination and communication, and differences in creative vision can lead to conflicts.
As a photographer, you might have specific ideas that clash with the stager’s, requiring negotiation and compromise. This is not ideal for everyones personality, especially real estate photographers who are very used to working alone.
4. Dependence on Availability
The availability of professional stagers can vary, and their schedules may not always align with yours or your client’s. This dependence can introduce delays in the photography and listing process.
Scheduling between real estate photographers and realtors is already difficult enough since each profession demands a lot of time. Adding in another persons schedule will eventually lead to delays.
5. Overstaging
There’s a fine line between staging a home to highlight its best features and overstaging it to the point where it feels unrealistic. Overstaged homes can lead to photographs that set unrealistic expectations, potentially disappointing buyers during viewings.
It can also be very frustration to walk into a professional staged home that is overstaged to the point where you need to move things out of frame before capturing images.
Give our article The Advantages of Minimalist Staging for Real Estate Photography a read to gain a deeper understanding of how much overstaging can hurt your images.
Tips for Working with a Professional Stager
Working with a professional stager as a real estate photographer can greatly enhance the quality and appeal of your work. However, it’s important to weigh the advantages against the potential downsides.
Open communication and a clear understanding of the goals for each property can help mitigate the cons while maximizing the benefits of this collaboration.
For new real estate photographers, partnering with stagers offers a learning opportunity to understand how different elements of a space can be showcased through photography. It’s also very likely to lead to portfolio worthy images for you.
It encourages a collaborative approach to real estate marketing, where the visual storytelling skills of the photographer complement the staging expertise to create compelling and sellable property imagery.
Additional Resources
If you’re just getting started in real estate photography, check out our Beginners Guide. It’s full of helpful articles and tips that will guide you in the right direction as you begin your real estate photography journey.
You can check out our Gear section as well to see reviews and recommendations on the latest real estate photography gear.
If you’re more interested in other resources that can help your real estate photography business, check out our Business Resources page.
