Friday, November 08, 2019
By John Voket
As home staging has advanced along with imaging technology, the trend of virtual home staging is emerging as a viable and cost-effective alternative for sellers and their agents. The practice taps technology that allows you to take digital photos of empty rooms and insert furniture, rugs and accessories into the images.According to a recent blog from American Home ShieldⓇ (AHSⓇ), in today’s marketplace, it’s more important than ever to present online listings in their best possible light. The National Association of REALTORSⓇ estimates that 90 percent of buyers use the internet to search for a home, and 97 percent find the photographs to be the most useful element on brokers’ sites.
AHS says most large real estate firms are already using virtual staging, and there are a growing number of web-based services that can do the same thing for individual REALTORSⓇ and even owners trying to sell their own homes.
So what are some of the pros and cons of virtual staging?
- On average, it costs between $2,000 and $3,000 to actually stage a property—and anywhere from $500 to $1,000 for additional monthly rental fees.
- The average cost to digitally stage real estate is between $200 and $400, depending on the company and the number of photos.
- Virtual staging helps clients visualize how a potential home might look and helps them connect with the property emotionally.
- Virtual staging also allows you to change the color of the walls, upgrade kitchen appliances and alter flooring to show how the home might look when renovated.
- The folks at designingidea.com point out that not all MLS markets allow for photos of virtually staged homes, so do your homework before signing off on a virtual staging contract.
- If you have a room that can function as either an office or a bedroom, for instance, designingidea.com suggests virtually staging it as both.
In the end, remember that a staging company can only have so much furniture, so your choices in the real-world are limited; however, in the virtual world, those choices are nearly unlimited.
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