Most of you know that I own a staging company. Along with our interior design work, we prepare homes for the real estate market. On the staging side of our business, we provide consults for homeowners and give them the news they sometimes don't want to hear from their agents about their property(i.e., you will need to tone down the paint colors in the entire house).
We also do empty stagings where we go into an empty space and provide all the furnishings to enhance how the property shows while on the market. So needless to say, when I saw this New York Times article, I was more than floored.
Virtual Staging - All the Rage
The article stated that in other parts of the country, "brokers are using a service that furnishes rooms virtually with the decor of the broker's choice, adding color and life to the photographs of otherwise bland blank boxes."
The article goes on to say, "Empty spaces often seem small - because there’s no scale in the room. But with virtual staging, a photo can show whether a room is large enough for a king-size bed and a triple dresser, or can hold only a twin bed and a bedside table."
Question?
Call me crazy, but I have a couple of pretty practical thoughts about this. If you are going to go ahead and include the before pictures of the space with the "small" (their word) rooms, why bother staging it. And secondly, what happens when the Buyer decides he wants to see it in person and shows up to a "small, bland, blank" (their words) property. Does the virtual staging really help you, then?
Lastly, here is a picture they provided of a "virtually staged" space with before and after shots.
Really?! If you have virtually [sorry for the pun] any furniture available to you for staging, would you pick these pieces? Stop it. Sometimes I am amazed by what people will buy.
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