In my more recent transactions I've had buyer clients react to the non-staging of homes very negatively. Yet when the home is sold it still sells over the asking price but for considerably less than one that was beautifully staged. When you see the home after the new owner takes possession (if it is owner occupied) it turns out beautiful + worth more money (in California's bay area market anyway). Many times homes have been rented out for a long duration of time with absentee owners, most instances outside of the city or state, that could care less about fixing the place up let alone staging it. That sometimes can spell out an opportunity to get a deal, update the home and build instant equity.  In today's market any little bit of help for our buyers is good. Turning the conversation from "This horrible paint and floor job sucks!" to "This home seeks your creative potential" has helped a few of my clients get diamonds in the rough. 

Now from the other end of the spectrum as a sellers agent selling a home worth more than $300,000 (sometimes less) I would most times always recommend staging. Staging works to the benefit of the seller in many ways. One of the biggest in my opinion would be the effect it has on the wealthy buyers with the mindset that there will be a bid war. There are several other benefits of a professional stage job, and normally if one is implemented in today's market it spells out a happy seller in the end accepting an offer well over asking price. I've seen professionally staged homes in somewhat undesirable neighborhoods sell for over $200k over the asking price!

Be also weary as a buyer of the staging jobs when looking at homes and try to figure out what holes are being covered up with a nice painting or throw rug. You'll never know what kind of things you may have missed once you become the homeowner and the staging has been removed  if you don't do your due diligence and ask questions.