Hommati Logo

Download the App

A Home Seller's Guide to Virtual Staging: Everything to Know

Go back
A Home Seller's Guide to Virtual Staging: Everything to Know

 

 

In September 2020, the sales of pre-owned homes reached 6.54 million units. It was a considerable increase from the 5.34 million existing homes sold in 2019.  

But while the increase in demand for previously owned homes is on the rise, it does not mean that selling your home in today’s market is a walk in the park. In August 2020, most listed homes stayed on the market for 56 days on average. But how can you get your home to sell much faster? The answer is taking advantage of virtual staging. 

In this comprehensive guide to virtual staging, we introduce you to this revolutionary real estate technology that is helping home sellers sell their homes quicker than ever before. Read on to learn more.

Why Staging? 

Any real estate expert will tell you that staging your home properly is one of the smartest moves you can make when selling your home. Staged houses sell faster than unstaged homes by up to up to 73%. Physical home staging has been around for a long time. The idea behind it was for real estate agents to sell more homes faster. 

Agents began placing furniture, installing appliances, hanging artwork, and so on to make homes more aesthetically appealing to potential buyers. The potential buyers could easily visualize themselves living in a staged house, which heightened their opinion of the house.  

Today, home staging has become a staple as a home selling strategy. Many real estate agents now work directly with interior designers to highlight the selling points of the houses they are selling. You can even find companies that specialize in home staging today.

What Are the Drawbacks of Traditional Staging?

For a long time, home sellers have relied on physical, in-person home staging. While this type of staging still does result in favorable results, it has a number of drawbacks that make many home sellers ditch it. Here are four of them.

Inconvenience 

Traditional staging requires that your home be empty or close to empty. It also needs your home to be in immaculate condition and well-organized. These requirements can be inconvenient enough to deter listing your home in the first place.

When you are working with a staging company, you have to secure and negotiate rental contracts for the pieces you will move into your home. 

You also have to spend a considerable amount of time moving in and installing all the new furniture, appliances, artwork, and so on. Once your home has sold, you will need to remove the staging material you used as quickly as possible so the new owners can move in.

It’s Costly

Renting staging equipment does not come cheap. Hiring an interior designer and staging company may also cost you thousands of dollars for every month your home remains on the market, depending on the location and square footage of your home. All these costs can significantly eat into your profit.

It’s Limiting

When you are staging a home, you need a decorative style that is consistent with the current trends, your home’s geographical location and style, its price point, and so on. Unfortunately, getting staging materials that can satisfy all these requirements at any given time is hardly possible. In most cases, sellers are limited to the home décor and furniture available at the time of staging.

Enter Virtual Staging 

In recent years, virtual staging has increasingly made headway in the US real estate industry. This new real estate marketing approach aims to introduce traditional home staging into the 21st century, and companies like Hommati are ready to showcase this technology to everyone. With virtual staging, you get to enjoy the benefits of conventional staging while avoiding the drawbacks it brings. 

The term virtual staging refers to the editing and optimization of real estate photos. Virtual staging includes:

  • Adding different renderings of décor and furniture to the phots of a vacant or furnished property
  • Enhancing a photo to make corrections for under or overexposure
  • Adding a virtual twilight or blue sky to a photo of a home’s exterior

Currently, there are incredibly advanced virtual staging apps that make top-notch photos. The end result is photos that look so realistic that people cannot tell the difference between them and photos of the actual property. Companies like Hommati have professional photographers and use programs that give the photos they take the look as if they were real. 

What Are the Benefits of Virtual Staging?

Why has virtual staging gained so much hype in recent years? Because it works. As one of the top real estate technology trends at the moment, virtual staging can help you get your home off the market within no time.

Some of the benefits you stand to reap from this home selling strategy are listed below.

Cost-Effectiveness

Earlier, we mentioned that costs are one of the biggest setbacks of traditional home staging. You have to rent staging materials and hire a professional stager to do the job properly for you. 

With virtual staging, you get to bypass all these costs. All you need is the right software to get the job done. Getting a top-quality virtually staged photo will set you back a tiny fraction of the amount you would spent on traditional house staging. 

It’s Convenient

Another benefit that makes virtual staging so attractive to home sellers today is the fact that you do not need to uproot your life and move out when selling your home. Virtual staging makes it possible to erase existing décor and personal items from the photo and redecorate it, giving it a new look. 

You do not even need to clean your home for the photo to look awesome. As a seller, you can have the peace of mind that your home is well-represented online, and buyers can see it 24/7. This saves you the stress of having to prepare for open houses.

It Offers Creative Freedom 

With traditional home staging, you can only achieve a single look for the home at any given time. That is because you are stuck with the particular staging materials you have. 

Advanced virtual staging software does away with this limitation. It allows you to choose and vary between countless design options available. This helps you to demonstrate as many design ideas as possible, appealing to the unique tastes of many different potential buyers. If you are having trouble deciding on how to stage a certain room, companies like Hommati can help in deciding what the best look woud be.

It Saves Time

Staging your home virtually can save both you and prospective buyers’ time on various fronts.

To begin with, it is a lot faster to virtually stage the photos of your home and post them online than it is to hold multiple discussions with staging companies, rent staging materials, move them into your home, stage them, and finally return them after the sale.

Once you place your order for virtual staging services, the entire staging process can take less than a day, while traditional staging could take weeks.

Virtual staging also saves house hunters a significant amount of time. Instead of visiting all homes physically to make a decision, they can identify a few options they would like to see from the photos they see online. 

Choosing the Right Virtual Staging Company for You

If virtual staging seems like the ideal option for you, your next move is to decide whether to go about the staging process yourself or to hire a professional. Most virtual staging apps make it easy for you to do the staging yourself.

However, an experienced virtual staging expert can bring the professional touch that a virtual staging process requires to catch the attention of a multitude of serious buyers. 

But with so many virtual staging service providers available, how can you identify the right one for you? Here are a few things to consider.

The Digital Furniture Selections the Company Offers

There are numerous digital houseware retailers specializing in different styles. Inquire whether your potential virtual staging service provider has access to the top digital décor companies in the market. This way, they will be able to put together the look you are aiming for to attract your target audience.

The Photo Turnaround Time

When looking to sell your home fast, you want to work with a virtual selling company that offers the quickest service possible. A company like Hommati can offer you packges that include taking photos and editing them to the best standards possible. Their turnaround time is just a few days or less and the cost is minor. 

Whether the Company Has Expert Providers on Staff 

Top virtual staging companies have competent interior designers to help with appropriate furniture and artwork placings on the listings. If the company does not have such experts on staff, at least they will have a partnership with reputable interior design consultants who help make sure photos are top-notch. Companies like Hommati have a specific staff for such requests, and they are readily available for when you need them.

How Much They Charge 

Many virtual staging service providers charge per edited photo. Some have different pricing tiers for a variety of service packages. Each case is different, so be sure to reach out to a company like Hommati to find out the exact charge for what you are looking to do.

Now You Have the Guide to Virtual Staging

In today’s tough real estate market, getting your home to sell quickly is easier said than done. One way to boost your prospects is by staging your home virtually. With this guide to virtual staging, you can create a powerful first impression on potential buyers, get higher offers, and sell your home much faster.

Are you interested in reliable staging services? Please contact us today.