Virtual staging has been remaking empty rooms into furnished, staged ones for nearly a decade. The technology can help clients visualize what otherwise would be a blank canvas and help better understand furniture placement and making the overall home more inviting. Virtual staging also allows the seller to show potential buyers what the home could look like by swapping out colors or making upgrades. But, there is more to virtual staging than just a pretty picture.
Up until now, virtual staging mostly benefited vacant spaces, which can be quite exhausting for a buyer who doesn’t have that creative touch. A vacant home not only looks smaller and colder, but as little as, 10% of home buyers can visualize the potential of a vacant space, which can make this a hard sell for any real estate agent.
Virtual Staging vs. Home Staging
There are a few ways to go about helping buyers notice the positive features of a vacant home depending on a seller’s budget. While I would always recommend furnishing the home through traditional home staging, virtual staging can be a good tool for some homeowners to creatively think for buyers.
Virtual staging is using actual photos of vacant rooms in the home and virtually adding furniture to create a photograph that buyers can connect with. Learn more about virtual staging and it’s benefits and pitfalls in our interview on Homesnap’s Snapshot Podcast click here or on the image below to listen now.
Beyond Virtual Staging Photos
For just a few hundred dollars a homeowner can get their photos staged, so be sure to blow-up those photographs and showcase them in the correlating room during the open house. During showings, the real estate agent at the very least should walk around with the buyer, to be their imagination of what this could provide. Tell them where that couch could go, how big of a bed would fit in this space, where they could have their office, yet also spend family time. Take out the tape measure so they get a sense of how big the space is or even tape out on the floor how big a furniture item is. Go the extra mile to get them to visualize their own items in this empty, desolate space because that’s something that a virtually staged image won’t be able to do.
photo via: batonrougerealestateagent.com
A New Take On Virtual Staging
With technology advancing frequently, home stagers are now able to connect with home sellers near and far to assist in preparing their home for sale. Our company is at the forefront of this new take on virtual staging. Our online consultation is a budget-friendly service that allows sellers to get expert advice upon submitting images of their problem rooms. The sellers will get a written action plan to get the room prepared for sale and talk with an expert to answer their questions and keep them motivated throughout the process. Click here to learn more about our customized consultation packages.
Our company also has the world’s first online home staging video course for sellers, The Stage 2 Sell Strategy. This 9-module program teaches sellers the step by step process our company uses when preparing a home for sale. Here’s what sellers learn in the Stage 2 Sell Strategy:
- How to obtain a seller’s mindset
- How to find and maintain your excellence
- How to create a buyer profile and assess each area of your home using the five senses test
- How control your clutter, get creative storage solutions.
- What repairs or improvements will give you the biggest return on investment
- How to maintain a white-glove clean home everyday
- How to set focal points in each room
- How to distract from negative characteristic of a room
- What are the different ways you can lighten up your home
- What are the design trends
- How to arrange furniture and accessories by using emotional connection points
We provide different pricing plans for specific parties involved in the selling process–including sellers, real estate agents and brokers. To learn more about The Stage 2 Strategy click here.
Have you tried virtual staging with your home or listings? Considering trying it? I’d love to hear from you on if you think virtual staging helps or hurts a sale. Let me know in the comment section below.
Happy Selling,
