Virtual Home Staging – Why it's a Bad Idea

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March 30, 2017

virtual home stagingYou’re probably already well aware that professionally staged homes typically sell faster and for more money compared to homes that are not staged. The majority of buyers have difficulty visualizing the potential of a home, which is where staging comes in to help.
But have you heard of virtual home staging? What is it, and is it a bad idea?

What is Virtual Home Staging?

Virtual home staging essentially involves taking a photo of an empty room in a home and ‘virtually’ staging it with furnishings and accessories using a specialized software. The goal is to make the home look fully furnished and more aesthetically appealing, which makes listing photos that are used on marketing materials more attractive.
A home stager never actually goes into the home and no ‘real’ furniture is actually used. The software is basically doing the staging by creating images of fully-furnished spaces to be used and shown online.
Virtual Staging Has No Place in the Selling Process
While virtual home staging software may sound very convenient, it’s actually a bad idea. At the end of the day, it will just be a complete waste of money. That’s because potential buyers will be very disappointed when they attend a showing in person, only to be greeted with a space that’s completely different from what they’ve seen in online photos. The whole purpose of staging is to impress buyers, not to turn them off. Virtual staging is a sure-fire way to entice prospective buyers to lose interest in the house.
virtual home stagingThe job of a professional home stager is to impress buyers and encourage an emotional connection to a home. High-quality photos are certainly essential, but as important as they are, they won’t necessarily seal the deal. It’s only after buyers have viewed a home in person that they will solidify their connection with it and be prepared to submit a good offer.
This is precisely why virtual staging software is a bad idea and is not something that sellers should be wasting their money on. Nothing can substitute the professional services of real home stagers who actually furnish and decorate a home in order to appeal to the masses of buyers looking in a specific neighbourhood.
Technology has certainly taken the world by storm and certainly does have valid applications in a number of scenarios, but home staging isn’t one of them. Forego virtual home staging in favour of real-life home staging that can help get your home sold quickly and for top dollar.