What Exactly is Virtual Staging?
Listen to this articleIf you are even remotely familiar with real estate and property exchange, it is quite unlikely that you don’t know what house staging or property staging is. In simple terms, it’s a process that helps the seller or the real estate agency set up a property’s interior and exterior in the most appealing way possible.
However, what some of us may or may not be familiar with, is the concept of virtual staging. After all, the stager has to visit a place and prepare it with tangible décor elements for a photoshoot or a showing, so how can that be done virtually? Well, that’s not always necessary anymore these days, and we are about to explain why.
Virtual Staging: Definition
Virtual staging in its core description can be defined as a process in which photographs of a vacant property are staged digitally and contain the most relevant décor elements. One can consider it to be both supplemental, as well as an alternative to traditional house staging. Everything from the paint on the walls and the furniture inside, to even the landscaping itself can be staged realistically.
Virtual Staging: Realism is a Critical Factor
As virtual staging involves making digital alterations to the original photographs, in order to give potential buyers an idea of how the property would look after being fully furnished, the work has to be immaculate. Especially for luxurious, expensive properties, you want a virtual staging company that has already staged similar houses to the one you have in mind.
Take a look at the virtual stager’s previous work before hiring them, and see if you can tell whether the pictures have been digitally altered or not. This is quite important because if you can tell, then so can the potential buyers. Even if people know it has been staged virtually, to be able to see that fact being too evident in the pictures is an immediate turn-off.
Saving Money: Virtual Staging is Cost-Effective
Virtual staging is cost-effective due to a number of reasons, and most of those reasons can be summarized along the following lines:
- You don’t have to pay for moving and renting furniture during a presale photoshoot
- Virtual staging companies charge a lot less than traditional stagers, since they do not have to spend on tangible assets
- You can stage your property with the most expensive, luxurious décor you want, without really having to pay rent for the actual items
- You can make changes in your property’s virtual décor that even traditional staging companies cannot
It is recommended to use virtual staging companies in such a way that you can match the staged house in real life as well. Otherwise, when it is finally time to show your potential customers the house, they might find it very off-putting to see that none of what they saw in the staged photographs is present within the actual property. Keep the virtual staging as close to what can be replicated within that same property in real life as well.
