Virtual staging is now a popular and mainstream marketing tool in real estate to sell homes. Even in the strong seller’s market, smart homeowners and their agents know that virtual staging will get them the best offers, quickly.
Virtual staging is an easy, less expensive, and highly effective way to get the best and highest offers.
In this post, we’ll explore why and how to use virtual staging in real estate to sell homes.
Why use virtual staging for real estate sales?
Virtual staging takes the power of home staging online and into the digital world. The process relies on the latest technology and photo editing software to change existing furnishings or add new furnishings to a room.
Virtual staging helps sell homes by providing every room with the kind of character and style you’d find in a magazine. This technology can make any property look stellar and extremely appealing.
Here are some of the things virtual staging can do:
- Elevate a home by taking a dated interior and showing buyers what it could look like after renovating
- Depersonalize rooms to make them appeal to everyone and help the buyer see themselves living there
- Decor changes such as removing bold colors and replacing them with more universal choices that freshen up the room.
The possibilities of virtual staging
Seasoned agents know that for a property to sell faster and for a higher price, you need to ensure that potential buyers connect with the home on an emotional level.
In light of the above, the benefits of virtual staging are proven and are many:
- Capture Buyer Interest – 97% of buyers start looking online, where you only have a few moments to catch a buyer’s attention
- Sell Homes Faster – homes that are staged sell 75% faster than those that are not
- Higher Sales Prices – 83% of staged properties sell for the asking price or above
- It’s Less Expensive – you can virtually furnish an entire room for just dollars of the cost of traditional staging
One last note, some in the industry criticize virtual staging as being dishonest or as an effort to try to trick buyers.
Absolutely not!
A real estate agent makes it clear on the listing that the home has been virtually staged to show its potential and possibilities. And most agents show the before and after photos.
With virtual staging, there are no surprises and everything is upfront.
This isn’t a trick — this is a powerful tool to best showcase a house.
How to use virtual staging for real estate sales
Now, let’s learn how to leverage virtual staging to more easily sell homes.
1. The process
First, to virtually stage a home, a real estate agent begins by hiring a professional photographer to take high-resolution photos of each of the rooms they want to include in their listing.
Next, once they get the images back from the photographer, they review them and determine how many rooms look like they need enhancing, editing, or full virtual staging treatment.
Then, the agent selects a virtual staging service they want to work with and uploads the images of the rooms they want to be staged using the company’s virtual staging software.
So, that’s the process for virtual staging a home. Now, the question becomes how to leverage this technology to best showcase and sell a property.
Here are some ways to use virtual staging for real estate sales.
2. Show the home’s true potential
Today, you no longer need to take time telling buyers about the potential of a home — now you can show them.
Each one of your virtually staged real estate photos will present a clear image of a room or space’s best use and decor options.
Virtual staging makes it easy to get any room to look exactly as you (or the buyer) want it to look.
The buyers are thinking of using the third bedroom as a home office? Then show them the third bedroom stylishly decorated and furnished as a home office.
A currently empty outdoor space would be perfect for a patio set and a nice pool? Like magic, you can show the space’s potential by adding the perfect patio set and pool, for pennies on the dollar — and without having to move furniture around.
3. Professionally fill an empty home
Have your sellers moved out before the sale and now the home is vacant?
Use virtual staging in real estate sales to get rid of that empty, cold, and abandoned feeling. Even better, fill your listing with stylish furniture which allows buyers to visualize themselves in the home.
Vacant homes can take longer to sell and don’t often get top dollar. Utilize virtual staging to easily overcome this issue.
4. Virtual remodeling and repairs
Many sellers wait too long to update and remodel a home. Then the time comes to sell, and the costs of the make-over are prohibitive.
Few things sink a real estate agent’s heart like struggling to sell a beautiful, but badly out-of-date, home.
Virtual staging technology can update entire rooms, including remodeling, cabinet and countertop replacement, new paint colors, light fixtures — the possibilities are endless.
Necessary repairs can be made virtually, allowing a buyer to see how things look when fixed while giving the seller more time to make the actual repairs.
For even more ideas, learn the top 6 home staging tips for selling your home.
Virtual staging for real estate made easy!
Now that you’ve learned how to use virtual staging for real estate home sales, we’d like to share with you the PhotoUp advantage.
PhotoUp offers a full range of high-quality, realistic, and affordable virtual staging services with fast turn-around times. It's simple and takes just 3 easy steps:
- First, upload the photos of the various rooms and spaces you want to be staged.
- Second, select your preferred design style from our professionally designed digital furniture library. You can carefully customize each set by adding more or fewer pieces and items.
- Third, in a day or so we’ll send you proofs of each virtually staged room for you to review, approve, and download.
1-2-3 it’s fast and easy!
We hope this article helped you see the benefits of virtual staging for real estate home sales.
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