That’s “Ugly Fruit,” not ugly fruit
It’s turns out that “Ugly Fruit” is actually a proper name, not just descriptive.
Discovery #2: it’s perfectly suited to staging.
I count four reasons for that:
One. It’s pleasingly colorful (vs. glaringly so or too muted).
Two. Ugly Fruit is big. You only need a few to fill up a nice-sized bowl (compare with cherries, grapes, etc.).
Staging pros further know that the magic number for catching a Buyer’s eye is three (1-2 items don’t stand out; more is too cluttery).
Three. You can’t tell if an Ugly Fruit is fresh or overripe.
With an exterior resembling a slightly prickly, overgrown avocado, it’s not obvious from its color, texture, etc. whether an Ugly Fruit is fresh-picked or months old.
That matters, because staged fruit that spoils rapidly has to be constantly replaced — a pain for a “For Sale” home (especially a vacant one).
Judging a Book Fruit By Its Cover
To avoid that problem, stagers will often use plastic flowers and fruit.
The catch: they often look plastic.
Which leads to benefit #4: you can’t tell if you’re looking at a real Ugly Fruit or a fake (prop) — not just in a picture (above), but actually holding one (as I did this am at an Exceptional Properties meeting — I couldn’t resist).
Just in case any listing agents or stagers out there are tempted to use the real thing, though, here’s one more reason to go with the prop: Ugly Fruit reportedly smells bad.