As a real estate agent, you live and breathe for the interest of potential buyers! To get there, however, your property must leave a good enough first impression on the visitors! Numbers have shown that house hunters make up their minds on whether or not to proceed the very moment they first set eyes on a property. And where do they see a property first? That’s right! Almost always on a property listing platform.
If you take a look at listed properties on websites such as Zillow or Redfin, you’ll immediately spot lots of photos that only scare visitors off! Poor-quality photos of empty lifeless rooms, exteriors that show no sign of hope or happiness, and random outdated furniture tastelessly sprawled around here and there!
For a lasting positive first impression on house hunters, you should help them appreciate the full potential of your place, which means the rooms should be purposefully staged and the photos should be of great quality. To understand this, you need not look further than NAR’s profile of home staging 2023.
For those who want to stick to the stats and do the right thing, there are two paths to choose. You can go about it traditionally or opt for a more advanced solution! This blog compares virtual staging vs. real staging to help real estate agents choose the most suitable option.
Real Home Staging: In the Thick of It All!
Let us begin the debate with real home staging introduced by Barb Schwarz in 1927. The idea was simple but costly. Sellers were encouraged to rent new furniture and furnish their homes so that visitors could appreciate the full potential of the property. Many liked the idea and soon enough, staging companies came into play. Let’s take a look at the two main advantages of real staging.
Advantages of real home staging: No need for coulds or shoulds
Authentic look
The main advantage of physically-staged homes is their authentic and tangible look. House hunters don’t need to imagine anything as they can see and feel everything going from one room to another. This real, first-hand experience increases the chances of visitors forming an emotional bond with the property, a feeling that’s difficult to shake off.
Clarity and trust
In a furnished home, the rooms are exactly as shown in the photos. So, no last-minute surprises! This consistency between what the applicants see on the listing and what they experience in their visit creates a sense of trust, which is essential in closing any deal.
Disadvantages of real home staging: Is it worth the effort?
It’s costly
Though real staging is still a common practice, the main problem with this approach is its high costs as the owner has to pay for the furniture, the initial design, as well as the agreed-upon rent for each day that the house lingers on the market, not to mention all the labor costs!
The latest report on home staging costs reveals that, for staging a 2,000-square-foot property, one has to pay something around $2,000- $2,400 per month! Keep in mind that, for various reasons, some properties linger in the market for several months! This makes physical staging a risky, if not less favorite, option among real estate agents.
It’s time-consuming
In real estate marketing, even hours count. Agents prefer to list properties as soon as possible so that they don’t lose any potential buyers. On the other hand, physical staging is a rather time-consuming process. It might take a few days before you can find a reliable staging company and a few more days before they furnish your place. In dormant markets where good buyers are unicorns, those are precious days you’ll never get back!
It’s limited
A staging company has a limited set of furniture to put in your house, but not all of them may align well with visitors’ preferences! If they don’t like the furniture or the design style of the place, they might lose interest and move on to the next property.
It’s risky
Real home staging involves lots of comings and goings whereby a piece of furniture might break or a stager might accidentally damage a wall, a floor, or even themselves! Moreover, there is always the possibility of items being damaged or stolen during a house visit!
The spread of Covid-19, during which visiting a listed property was a real risk, was the final blow, and that made realtors look for other alternatives. That was the shining hour of virtual staging service.
Virtual Staging: The Digital Alternative
Virtual staging came as an alternative to real home staging that does not suffer the above difficulties. First, let’s have a look at the advantages of this phenomenon of the digital age.
Advantages of virtual staging: Doubled output for much less
It’s cost-effective
Compared to real home staging, virtual staging is a truly cost-effective alternative as it cuts costs by eliminating the need for physical furniture and the labor involved. Companies offering this service charge $10-$50 per photo. So, even if 20 photos are attached to the listing, the finished cost would be $200-$1,000, which is a truly considerable reduction in costs.
However, keep in mind that for each new design, you have to pay separately. So, staging the same room in five different styles or with five different furniture sets means that you should pay for five photos instead of one! However, if you use an AI virtual staging tool like AI HomeDesign, you don’t need to pay that extra amount! Restyling a room as many times as you like is free of charge!
It’s less time-consuming
Professional virtual staging companies deliver the orders within 24-48 hours. Though this is still a considerable amount of time spent on preparing a couple of photos, it is arguably a good improvement in comparison to the previous method. Add artificial intelligence to the mix, and the turnaround time comes down to less than a minute! But more on that later!
It’s flexible
Unlike real home staging which allows for only one design style at a time, virtual staging allows for several, to say the least. That is to say, you can stage the same room with various furniture sets and different styles to appeal to a much wider range of buyers.
But let’s face the facts: Like real staging, virtual staging has its own unique pitfalls. Let’s take a look.
Disadvantages of virtual staging: Better tread carefully…
Lack of physical appeal
Many have criticized virtual staging on the grounds that it has no physical appeal, and it’s only fair to give them a mark on this topic. The argument is that when clients see a virtually staged home on a listing, they’re faced with too perfect a visual, running the risk of disappointment upon their actual visit to the place. Some might even consider this an act of cheating.
But we shouldn’t forget two things here: One, if you virtually stage a property, you MUST state that in your listing so that buyers know in advance that the actual place might somewhat differ from the photos. Two, virtual staging is a completely legal practice as long as home features are not manipulated. This brings us to the second argument.
Misrepresenting the space
Others complain that virtual staging tools don’t reflect the real features (e.g., size, height, and depth) of the place, hence misrepresenting it. For instance, a bedroom furnished in a virtual space may look bigger than it really is.
While many companies and freelancers provide this service, some of them use AI-driven tools for this, we can’t assume that they all deliver quality results! However, by using the right tool, you can virtually stage any room with as close a resemblance as possible to the real deal without worrying about misrepresenting them.
The table below summarizes what we’ve been discussing up to here.
| Real Staging | Virtual Staging | |
|---|---|---|
| Advantages |
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| Disadvantages |
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The Right Choice? A Hybrid Approach
When comparing virtual staging vs. real staging, you should consider various factors such as time, costs, clients’ expectations, and market trends. Whether to go for one or the other mainly depends on your marketing budget, which is settled between you and your agent. Anyone willing to pay the costs who doesn’t mind the wait can opt for real staging. But when you’re on a tight budget or want to list your property as soon as possible, virtual staging might be a better choice. Whichever way you go, just keep in mind that empty rooms on listings don’t provoke emotional connections!
Complementing real staging with virtual staging
But it doesn’t always have to be about choosing one approach over the other. It can be about mixing the two for better results. One way of doing this is to physically stage one or two rooms (so that buyers don’t call you names when they visit!), and digitally stage other rooms (so that your listings look more attractive).
Another option is to go for virtual staging with big spaces, like duplexes, and opt for real staging for small properties with fewer rooms, like an apartment that has only three or four rooms.
At other times, you can choose your strategy based on buyers’ behavior. If you notice that, on a listing for a certain state or city, there are lots of virtually staged properties, you can conclude that relevant house hunters are used to seeing virtually staged homes, and you can do it, too. But if you notice that traditionally staged homes get more attention there, you should prioritize the more traditional approach.
In most cases, a hybrid approach can be used, where real staging complements virtual staging to eventually deliver a seamless and captivating experience. While virtual staging addresses the challenges of cost, time, and design flexibility, real staging can step in to offer the authenticity and emotional connection that some buyers so desperately seek. This is, without a doubt, the safest and wisest approach as it allows you to make the best use of two popular real estate marketing techniques. One increases the chances for faster sales and the other promises higher ROI.
Virtual staging as the main marketing strategy
By considering all the advantages and disadvantages that each method has, one can see why virtual staging should be used as part, if not the whole, of agents’ marketing arsenal. By using virtual staging, you can:
- Reduce the costs;
- Eliminate manual labor;
- Save time by days and weeks;
- Attract more attention on listings;
- Stage occupied rooms;
- Market several properties on the same day; and,
- Cater to a variety of tastes.
Try It Both Ways!
The idea of replacing the old with the new can always spark controversy, even more so when discussing an industry-sensitive topic like “virtual staging vs. real staging.” Since any new experience comes with certain fears and doubts, most people usually tend to stay on the safe side and stick to the old. But a look at innovations made throughout history reveals that change cannot be avoided, and societies gradually embrace the new.
This blog highlighted the benefits of virtual staging as a new, albeit widely used, practice while not overlooking the advantages of real, physical staging as a well-rooted marketing technique in real estate. Adopting a hybrid approach can be good for starters since trying both for a while will reveal the obstacles and potentials specific to your unique business situation. That way, by pitting virtual staging vs. real staging, you can decide where or when you should go for one or the other!
FAQ
Anyone trying to furnish their home can use this service. So, the short answer is EVERYBODY! However, as the main application of virtual staging is in real estate marketing, real estate agents may use it more than others. Interior designers can also use virtual staging to get ideas for their projects. Last but not least, homeowners who want to go for a new design style, can try virtual staging for ideation.
