Virtual staging using a real estate photo editing company or online software has exploded in popularity around the world. Realtors are using the full power of the digital economy to feature photos of their properties online in order to drive more traffic and interest to their listings. They can then use the power of virtual staging to digitally add furniture to space in order to provide more value for both buyers and sellers. At the end of the day, this entire digital marketing process helps to sell properties faster and more efficiently than ever before.

The results that you get when you work with virtual staging companies are a far more effective use of your resources than attempting to physically stage a home for an open house. By working with such a company, you’ll get a fully furnished hi-resolution image of a room within 24-48 hours that you can use in multiple marketing channels (online listing, listing flyer, single property website, etc.) to help draw attention to your listing. Not to mention, the cost of staging virtually can start as low as $20 per image.

So, if that sounds like something that will be valuable to your real estate photography business, then read on as we discuss some of the most important terms you need to know to become efficient and effective at virtual staging.

Home Staging vs Virtual Staging

Before you begin, make sure you know the difference.

Home staging involves furnishing a physical space with real furniture that clients are going to come and visit during a showing. You will probably work with a home staging professional who will charge you to rent all their furniture and accessories, get them to the location, and set them up, then take them away afterward.

Virtual staging means working with the same property but instead of staging with physical pieces of furniture, you take images of the empty home and then use digital furniture to show potential buyers how the property will look when it is fully furnished.

What you need to do is:

1. Take professional photos of the property. We suggest using a professional real estate photography company.
2. Search online and choose the best virtual staging company to work with.
3. Select virtual furniture from an online catalog of virtual furniture sets and individual pieces.
4. Upload your images and furniture selections to the virtual staging company.
5. Receive your virtually staged images within 24-48 hours!

It stands to reason that virtual staging is much faster, more affordable, and more effective in the digital-first environment that we are operating in today.

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12 Virtual Staging Terms You Need to Know

• Virtual Home Staging – Working with a digital artist and/or real estate photo editing team to create a fully furnished image using digital furniture and digital decor.
• Virtual Furniture – Digital renderings of furniture and accessories you can choose from when virtually staging a room.
• Virtual Staging Online Catalog – An online repository of virtual furniture and individual furniture pieces that real estate photographers and realtors can select from when staging a room or property. Click this link for an example of a virtual staging online catalog.
• Uploading – As the real estate photographer, it’s up to you to work with a real estate photo editing company, a virtual staging company, or preferably both. Uploading refers to the process of sending the unprocessed images over to your real estate photo editing company and/or virtual staging company.
• Furniture Set – Matching pieces of furniture that are used to create a certain look or style within a set of virtual staging images, e.g Modern, Scandanavian, or Beach.
• Turnaround Time – How long it takes your virtual staging company to complete a final virtual staging image.
• Revisions – The virtual staging company takes your requests or recommendations and revises the virtual staging image according to your feedback. Some virtual staging companies charge for this service. Others, like PhotoUp, do not charge for revisions as long as you let us know about the revisions before you give your final approval.
• Virtual Staging Artist – Someone who is experienced in virtually staging rooms with the use of Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and other photoediting software like Photoshop and Lightroom.
• CAD (Computer-Aided Design) – The act of using computers to create or modify an online design.
• Virtual Staging App – A mobile application you can download onto your device that lets you do virtually stage a room yourself.
• Virtual Staging Companies – Businesses that provide virtual staging services to real estate photographers and realtors looking to virtually stage their properties.
• Rendering – The time it takes to actually produce the finished image once all the creative choices have been made and the software begins to put it all together.

Should You Use Virtual Staging?

Regardless if you’re a realtor or real estate photographer, the evidence seems to be overwhelming that you should be using virtual staging as part of your real estate marketing strategy.

It’s fast, it gives you a huge reach into the online market of prospective buyers, and it’s so affordable that you can afford to get multiple images and multiple looks for the same price as a few days of home staging.

Try virtual staging today and start to build a beautiful web portfolio of your properties with PhotoUp.

The Art of Real Estate Photography

The real estate photography industry can be one of the most rewarding to work in. There is no better feeling than knowing that your realtor-client was able to sell a home because the top-quality real estate photos you provided them helped bring the future buyer through the doors.

But, the real estate photography industry is becoming more and more competitive. That’s why real estate photographers are always on the lookout for the next best and newest thing to add to their list of services. So what’s the next best thing in real estate photography? The answer might surprise you…

Virtual staging is quickly taking the real estate photography industry by storm. With virtual staging, you can bring life to photos of vacant listings while saving valuable amounts of time, money, and effort. For those who don’t know, virtual staging is a special computer-assisted design (CAD) process wherein virtually designed furniture is added to a photo of an empty room, much like traditional home staging. Virtual staging has taken the real estate marketing scene by storm recently. With new faster, better, and more realistic tools and techniques, virtual staging continues to become more and more popular in real estate marketing!

Virtual Staging: One of The Most Valuable Real Estate Marketing Tools

Homebuyers want to be able to feel what it would be like to live on a property. They don’t want to see an empty room with white walls and a bare floor. They want to experience a room with soul; furniture, pictures on the wall, plants on the counters, and books on the shelves…the kinds of things that give a space warmth and life.

That’s why realtors began using home staging as a tool to sell homes in the first place. In the words of HomeValueLeads “Instead of selling shells and relying on buyers to use their imaginations, real estate agents outfitted homes for sale with an image of what the home might look like,”

And it really worked! Suddenly every agent needed to put in the time and money for organizing furniture and props for their showings.

Home staging was so successful that specialty home staging companies sprang up all over the place to fulfill the increase in demand. The more sophisticated the staging became, the more expensive it became as well. According to realtor.com, “The average cost for a home staging consultation is $300 to $600. The average cost to stage a room per month is $500 to $600.”

That’s the cost per month! If the home doesn’t sell quickly, the cost for home staging can really start to add up!

The other thing which has made home staging less of a must-have is the rise of the internet. Now, prospective buyers spend a lot more time doing their research online, rather than visiting properties in person. People are either buying places that are too far away to visit in person, or they are too busy to see the listing for themselves. So they rely almost exclusively on the images that they see online through listing sites like Zillow and Trulia.

This is what has made virtual staging so successful in today’s digital age. Now, realtors can dress a room exactly the way they want it, cater to a specific market or niche of people, and present realistic virtual staging photos of the property immediately to interested buyers.

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Understanding The Process of Virtual Staging

The great news about virtual staging is that you don’t need to be a wiz on Photoshop or an interior designer in order to get great results. All you need to do is sign up for a virtual staging service like PhotoUp to start working with a team of 3D furniture modelers and staging specialists. All you need to do is send over your images and pick a furniture set from their online virtual staging catalog, and they’ll take care of the rest! Quickly turn an empty photo of a room into an attractive, sellable, and cost-effective marketing tool.

PhotoUp’s Virtual Staging Catalog is divided into two sections: Sets & Furniture:

Once you make your virtual furniture selections, the designers and editors take over using CAD software to place the furniture into the room, adjust the lighting, edit the photo and finish it off so that the prospective buyer will not even be able to tell the difference between a real room and a virtual staging image.

How Much Does Virtual Staging Cost?

Virtual Staging can vary in cost from $10 all the way to $100+ per room. Whichever virtual staging company you choose, virtual staging is still likely more cost-effective than real home staging.

PhotoUp’s virtual staging services start at 20 credits ($20) per image, which includes 7 pieces of furniture, standard photo editing, and a 1-to-2-day turnaround.

There are so many benefits to virtual staging that it’s no surprise that this is one of the biggest growth areas in real estate marketing today. Not only is it way more affordable than home staging, but research shows how much easier and quicker it is and how buyers are willing to pay more for a staged home than an empty one.

So, if you’re ready to include the power of technology in your real estate photography business, then create an account with PhotoUp and start providing even more value for your real estate clients.

One of the most effective techniques to quickly sell a home is to let the buyer imagine how their new home will look like once they are all moved in. This can be harder than it seems, especially when looking through an empty home. However, there is a way to make this vision a reality, and it’s called virtual staging.

In this post, we’ll share 6 advantages or benefits of virtual staging. We’ll also explain what it is and the actual process of virtual staging.

Virtual Staging Explained

Virtual staging is the process of staging a home virtually, wherein graphic editors design the interior of a property based on the aesthetics and personality of the home.

This is done by creating highly realistic furniture, decor, and accent pieces then integrating them into an image of a vacant interior.

6 Benefits of Virtual Staging

As of 2016, 5 to 10% of listing images use virtual staging. And this is on the rise as more and more photographers and realtors recognize the benefits of virtual staging.

That said, here are 6 benefits of virtual staging:

1. Increased Home Sales

Home buyers are more attracted to real estate photos with well-furnished interiors rather than photos of an empty home.

Images of rooms with nice bookshelves, comfortable sofas, and beautiful decor give off a feeling of life and warmth, making them think, “I could see myself living in this house!”

It’s this feeling and imagination that often prompts buyers to close the deal.

With virtual staging software, you can digitally put nice furniture, decor, and accessories right in a vacant space.

You can choose what furniture sets or specific pieces you’d like to add to a room. Or you can simply send an empty image over to a virtual staging editor and have them work their interior design magic on the empty room.

2. A Preview of Their Home

It’s difficult to convince a buyer to purchase a home if they can’t visualize themselves actually living in the space.

And in today’s day and age, 80% of home sales start online.

That being the case, as a photographer/realtor, you need to do anything possible to get people excited about the home you are shooting or listing.

By virtually staging a home, you are giving a potential home buyer a preview into what their life could look like in their new home.

3. Saves You Money

Actual staging can cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars, not to mention the time it takes to hire a stager, get furniture in the home, and then take images of the staged property (see below).

If the house is not sold quickly, you could be on the hook for a hefty staging bill on top of not selling the home.

Sounds expensive, right?!

Compare that to virtual staging. You can have an empty room digitally filled with furniture, decor, and accent pieces at a fraction of the cost.

That cost is usually a one-time fee per room/image. In fact, according to Hasten CEO Aleksandr Lanin, virtual staging is up to 90% cheaper than actual staging.

Best of all, the real estate photo editing experts at PhotoUp only charges $20 per image!

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4. Saves Time and Effort

Photographers and realtors can save a lot of time using virtual staging.

Just think of the extra time and effort it takes to find and hire a staging company, followed by the additional time it takes to deliver the furniture and get everything set up and photographed.

Whereas if you choose to have a home virtually staged, you can photograph a vacant room(s) one day and have the whole home staged and images delivered back to you within 24 to 48 hours.

Seems like a no-brainer, right?

5. Target Specific Markets

Another great advantage of virtual staging is that you can actually customize the space depending on the style and preference of the home, realtor, or buyer demographic.

Does the home look more rustic or modern?

Does your realtor only work with high-wealth individuals who like a modern look?

Or is the home buyer demographic in your area primarily looking for the farm/ranch style home?

These are no problems for a virtual staging team. The virtual staging editor can fill the space with exactly what you or your clients are looking for.

In other words, virtual staging allows you to directly target the needs and wants of your market.

It makes listings more appealing to the specific buyers that you want to reach.

6. Declutter Space and Redecorate

Too much can be too bad. No one wants to see a photo of a stuffed, cluttered room.

Or perhaps decors and furnishings in the room may be outdated or out of place.

Virtual staging allows you to remove and redesign an existing interior image to fit your preferences.

You can remove that old sofa, get rid of that creepy painting of a clown, or say goodbye to those ugly rugs that might hinder the property’s sale.

Final Thoughts

And there you have 6 benefits of virtual staging. We hope this post helped you see the advantages of this excellent marketing tool.

Not only is virtual staging more cost-effective than regular home staging, but it can also help you sell a listing faster and for more money.

PhotoUp offers professional virtual staging services to the affordable price of $20 per image!

So, what are you waiting for?

Sign up with PhotoUp today, and let us virtually stage your images in less than 48 hours!

We look forward to helping you provide more value by offering virtual staging services to your clients.

Before you go, you may also find the following resources useful:

• Can You Do Your Own Virtual Staging?
• Virtual Staging Ideas for Interior Design
• Virtual Staging – Everything Real Estate Agents Need to Know
• How to Virtually Stage a Room in Less Than 5 Minutes
• Home Staging vs Virtual Staging for Apartments: Which Is Best?

Are you looking for virtual staging services? Then, we have great news for you!

PhotoUp is now launching its virtual staging service to take your real estate photography to the next level and help you boost sales.

With virtual staging, you can add realistic furniture, decor, and accessories to any empty space and create a beautiful home people want to buy.

Alright, let’s take a closer look.

To better illustrate what virtual staging can do, look at the photo below. If you were in the market for a home, which one would catch your interest?

Looks more inviting, don’t you think?!

More importantly, people are naturally attracted to a photo of a tastefully furnished home as compared to an empty room, which will help you sell your property faster and for more money.

But, how do you add furniture to an empty room without hiring a staging company for a few hundred/thousand dollars?

Is there a more practical way to stage a room without having to wait weeks and spend a lot of money on an expensive staging company to come to arrange furniture in an empty home?

Yes, there is, and it’s easier than you may think!

PhotoUp’s Virtual Staging

From the time PhotoUp opened its doors, we heard a lot of feedback from our clients who have been looking for a virtual solution to this staging issue.

And we listened!

PhotoUp now offers virtual staging to put some personality into those empty spaces.

The good news is that our designers will create, incorporate, and arrange super-realistic images of furniture, decor, and accessories in interior real estate photos.

For example, here’s a virtually staged bedroom:

Could you see yourself sleeping in that bed?

You get the point!

Best of all, it gives prospective buyers a feel for how their new home (in this case, the bedroom) could look.

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Interiors. Landscapes. Commercial. Virtually transform any space.

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Benefits of Virtual Staging Services

As you probably understand by now, there are obvious benefits to using virtual staging services, and here are a few:

• Home sellers can impress their clients with photos of fully furnished homes, providing them with a higher chance of a sale.
• Property buyers can visualize how their new home may look once the home is fully furnished.
• Realtors can save money as they wouldn’t have to spend additional money on staging companies to bring in furniture.
• In the same manner, realtors save a lot of time. They don’t have to wait on staging companies that take days or weeks to set up and remove furniture.

This is great news for everyone in the real estate industry!

How to Order PhotoUp Virtual Staging

To get started and have PhotoUp virtually stage a room for you, please send an edited image over to support@photoup.net, and let us know if you would like the room to be staged.

In addition, you can view a full list of our virtual staging furniture sets by downloading our virtual staging catalog.

Creating Your First Virtual Staging Order

Getting started using PhotoUp’s virtual staging services is as easy as 1-2-3!

Here’s a video showing how easy it is to create your first virtual staging order and upload your photos:

As simple as that!

That said, if you haven’t already, sign up for a PhotoUp account today and get started adding personality to your property photographs!

With the addition of virtual staging, we are truly entering an exciting time.

PhotoUp is always looking for ways to improve our service and provide our clients with the products, tools, and services that best help grow and scale their businesses.

Did we tell you that virtual staging only costs 20 credits per rendered image with a 24 to 48 hour turnaround time?

That’s right!

Besides, if you have a product idea or a special feature request for your business, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. Drop us a line at sales@photoup.net and let us know.

Your ideas today are tomorrow’s projects!

Before you go, you may also want to check out the following posts: