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.

ugly2I 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.

About the author

Ross Kaplan has 19+ years experience selling real estate all over the Twin Cities. He is also a 12-time consecutive "Super Real Estate Agent," as determined by Mpls. - St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business Magazine. Prior to becoming a Realtor, Ross was an attorney (corporate law), CPA, and entrepreneur. He holds an economics degree from Stanford.

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