Cost-to-Stage ROI Calculator

AI virtual staging costs $0.012-$0.04 per render on a SofaBrain monthly plan (Pro $39/mo for 1,000 credits, Premium $99/mo for 5,000, Business $299/mo for 25,000). Traditional staging runs $2,000-$4,500/month for a vacant 3-bedroom listing. For a typical listing with 7 staged photos over 2 months, that's $39 vs $5,000 — a ~128x cost gap.

Yes. NAR research consistently shows staged listings sell 30-50% faster than unstaged. Median DOM nationally is around 45 days unstaged and 32 days staged. The calculator uses these midpoints. Effects vary by market — luxury markets see bigger DOM lifts, hot markets see smaller ones.

Roughly 0.3% of listing price per day. That bundles property insurance, PMI (if applicable), taxes, utilities, HOA fees, and the opportunity cost of capital tied up in the listing. For a $450K listing that's ~$1,350/day. Real holding cost varies — we use the midpoint.

We intentionally exclude price-lift effects (typically +1-5% on staged sales per NAR) because they're harder to attribute cleanly. The DOM-based holding cost is the conservative measure of staging value. If you add a 2% price lift on a $450K listing, that's another $9,000 in upside on top of the calculated ROI.

For luxury listings ($2M+) where the hero photo is the marketing centerpiece, traditional staging produces editorial polish that AI sometimes misses. Magazine-quality renders + hand-modeled furniture + photographer review are worth the premium when buyer expectations are highest. For 95% of listings, AI is mathematically the right call.